Alternate
by Kelly of the midnight dawn
Summary: An alternate ending to "Romeo" Daniel ends up kidnapped alongside Kate. The story of their captivity and how things change after. When they think they're safe at last will the next mystery be their undoing? Eventual Pieretti
1. Prologue: Snafu

**Alternate**

**Prologue 1: Snafu**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

**A/N: Just an idea that's been swimming around my brain. Hope you enjoy it. Special thanks to Wolfhound159, DaisyDay, ChristyLoisGilmore17 and fanficlove4ever who distracted me with such interesting conversations that I didn't even realize I was making progress. Check out their stories if you have the chance.**

"Have you been crying?" Daniel inquired of the woman in front of him.

"No," Tasha assured him "It's just allergies."

At that moment two giggly, excited girls appeared and ran down the stairs. One of the girls bumped into Tasha, causing her to drop the box she was carrying.

"I'll be right there," Daniel heard Kate call to her nieces as he bent to retrieve the contents of the box for Tasha.

He froze in place when he caught sight of a taser. He looked at the woman who seemed to be attempting to invert herself into Donnie's life. "Ta-" he hadn't even gotten her name out when his body spawned from the shock.

Kate caught sight of Daniel as he fell to the floor only to fall victim to the taste as well. Daniel felt Kate's body land on top of him. His arms automatically came up in a protective motion. But Tasha had already grabbed Kate by the hair. As Daniel struggled to his feet he saw Tasha plunge a needle into Kate's neck. Daniel opened his mouth to call for help but Tasha stopped him.

"Now you're gonna do exactly what I say or I empty the rest of this syringe into her and stop her heart," the obviously deranged woman threatened. It was if the shy frightened woman who had testified against Rosenthal was gone.

Daniel raised his hands slowly "Tasha, you don't want to hurt anyone-"

"You have no idea what I want," she growled menacingly "Now help me get her upstairs and hurry. I swear if someone sees I'll kill you both."

Daniel had no other choice than to do as he was told. The three of them entered the dressing room and Tasha shut the door "Grab her clothes," she ordered,still holding the needle to Kate's throat.

After a bit of rummaging Daniel found the clothes Kate had worn to the church. When he turned back to Tasha he saw that she already had Kate half out of her wedding dress.

"Tasha please," Daniel attempted to reason with her "I know you think you're in love with Donnie-"

"This isn't about Donnie," Tasha chuckled darkly "Help me get her changed."

Again Daniel was left with no other option but to do as the woman commanded him. As he pulled one of Kate's arms through the sleeve of her blouse he took a moment to check her pulse. His heart, which was already pounding, quickened when he felt the weak and thready sensation against his fingers. He reluctantly released her wrist and with trembling fingers did the buttons of her blouse.

"Get me her phone," Tasha told him when Kate was dressed.

It took Daniel nearly a full minute to locate the device. Each second was agony as Tasha continuously threatened him.

"Move it," she nearly shouted "You don't want your precious Kate's death on your hands now do you?"

The comment gave Daniel pause but he didn't have time to consider it "Here," he gave Tasha the phone "Now please put the needle down?"

"Shut up," Tasha growled "Now the three of us are gonna walk out of this church. Move." She pushed Daniel in the direction of the changing room door.

The church entry was completely unoccupied. Everyone was in the sanctuary awaiting the bride. Tasha directed Daniel to a sedan in the parking lot. She opened the back passenger's side door and shoved Kate unceremoniously inside.

"Tasha, whatever reason you're doing this for, please, let's talk about it?" Daniel was begging now.

"Oh, talk to Natalie," Tasha grabbed Daniel by his arm and bent him down so that he was splayed across the car trunk. With a sneer of triumph she plunged the remainder or the syringe's contents into his jugular.

Ten minutes later when Donnie turned his phone back on, the text waiting for him read "I'm sorry, I can't do this. I realize I'm in love with Daniel. Please don't look for us."

**A/N: Oh NO! Please review.**


	2. Chapter 1: Tethered

**Alternate**

**Chapter 1: Tethered **

**A/N: I'd like to thank my wonderful reviewers Wolfhound159, DaisyDay and ChrustyLoisGilmore17.**

Joe Moretti, his son Joey, Joey's wife Sandra and their two girls June and Abby, were just finishing saying goodbye to the wedding guests. Donnie had disappeared long ago to God only knew where. Joe and Donnie had kept the contents of the text message to themselves but rumors had spread among the guests. Some of the theories were remarkably accurate.

"I bet she ran off with that handsome professor who serenaded her at the rehearsal dinner," Joe had overheard one of Donnie's sisters telling a group of people as they departed.

Joe found himself not as shocked as he should be that his daughter had run out on her wedding. Maybe it was because in spite of his best efforts not to hate Donnie for Kate's sake, he still didn't care for the man who had cheated on his little girl.

He had been of the opinion that this marriage was a mistake since Kate had told him of her engagement. In all honesty he believed that Daniel Pierce was a much better match for Kate. He could tell that the professor would always treat her right.

He was snapped from his thoughts by Sandra yelling at the girls. The would be bride's maids had been flouncing around the church entry in their pretty dresses, pretending they were the ones walking down the aisle when Abby began throwing some sort of confetti in the air.

"It's not dirt Mom," the girl complained to her mother, holding out a handful of the stuff for inspection. I found it over by the stairs.

Sandra inspected the contents of her daughter's hand "What is this stuff?" she questioned as her husband and father-in-law came over to take a look.

Joey, who was a CPD detective just like his Dad had been, took the tiny dots from his daughter's hand and inspected them. A shadow passed over his face as he pulled his father aside "I think I know what this is," he remarked in a voice low enough that his wife and daughters wouldn't overhear "Get Sandy and the kids out of here, I've got a phone call to make." If this was what he thought it was then it meant his big sister and her doctor friend could be in big trouble.

Kate's head swum in the confused state between unconsciousness and reality. She felt woozy. Her brain was fuzzily trying to form full thoughts. Her mind worked with feverish urgency to make sense of the clouded, hazy jumble though in her state of delirium she wasn't exactly sure why. There was something important... no not something... someone...

All in a flash it hit. The fog cleared and she gasped "Daniel," the sight of him collapsing to the floor... the need to reach him overtaking her entire being... a taser shot to the gut...

She became aware of her surrounding. She was lying face up on a concrete floor. When she tried to move her muscles were slow to respond, a result of whatever she had been drugged with not having worked its way out of her system yet, she surmised. She became aware that her left wrist was cuffed to something. She rolled onto her side and found him lying there.

Daniel was lying disturbingly still on the floor beside her, his right wrist attached to her left one by a set of handcuffs. In the dim light cast by a bare buld suspended above them she caught sight of the slight rise and fall of his chest and allowed herself to breathe again as well. He was still alive.

Gingerly she move closer until she was hovering above him. She began to check him for injuries. As far as she could tell there was no physical reason for his unconsciousness so he must have been drugged like she was. With her free hand she gently traced the lines of his face. She desperately wanted him to wake up. Then the two of them could figure a way out of this mess together.

As she watched Daniel, silently giving thanks for each successive rise and fall of his chest, Kate became aware of the sound of approaching footsteps. Hastily she looked around the room for something to defend herself. No useful objects presented themselves. Instead she positioned her body protectively over Daniel's and waited for their captor's arrival. As the footsteps drew closer she searched Daniel's face for signs he was coming to but found none.

The door to the room opened and Tasha entered, sniffling a little and armed with the taser from before. Kate glared angrily at her but Tasha just smiled a wicked little smile that left Kate feeling deeply unsettled.

"I see you're awake," Tasha observed "Well, one of you is," she added as she kicked Kate off of Daniel.

Tasha's powerful kick sent Kate sprawling as far as hers and Daniel's cuffed hands would allow. Finding that her muscles responded a bit more readily this time, she attempted to launch herself at Tasha who was now kneeling beside Daniel looking him over.

Tasha was ready for her and brought the taser to bare, delivering a painful jolt to Kate's right breast. Tasha stepped across Daniel's body and knelt over Kate "Sorry about that," she said in a tone that conveyed a complete lack of sympathy.

Kate, still finding it difficult to breathe, stared up at Tasha in bewilderment "Why?" she questioned "Because of Donnie?"

Tasha laughed "You little idiot," she sniffed again as she jammed the taser into Kate's stomach, seeming to take great pleasure in watching the other woman writhe in pain "This has nothing to do with your jilted fiancé. Well not the way you think."

"Then why?" Kate moaned as Tasha drove the taser into her stomach once again. This vindictive woman was nothing like the frightened victim Kate and Daniel had interviewed and nothing like the woman who had only a few days ago helped put a serial killer away with her testimony.

Tasha laughed again "You FBI agents think you've got everything figured out. Well I fooled you," she spared a glance toward her other captive "I even fooled the Great, All Knowing Daniel Pierce."

Kate saw her opportunity when Tasha looked away. She reached for the taser but Tasha was too quick for her. Kate's efforts were rewarded with another shock and a slap across the face. In response Kare spit at Tasha.

Again the other woman just laughed "You think you're tough, don't you?" she pulled a syringe from her pocket and uncapped it single handedly "Bishop thought she was tough too." Tasha sniffed twice in quick succession "That didn't last long."

Kate stared in horror as the realization hit her "You were never Rosenthal's victim," she tried to squirm away as Tasha stuck the needle in her "You were his accomplice..."

"That's right," Tasha confirmed as she injected Kate with something "And I'd be well on my way to having Josiah out of jail right now if he," she indicated Daniel again "Hadn't seen the taser."

"What did you inject me with?" Kate demanded, finding her muscles once again slow to respond.

"Just a little something to take the fight out of you," Tasha replied with a wicked grin "But don't worry it won't dull your senses. I need you awake for the time being." Tasha left Kate and returned to kneeling by Daniel's side. She withdrew another syringe.

"What are you doing to him?" Kate demanded fearfully as she attempted to reach over and smack the syringe from Tasha's hand. Kate's hand only made it as far as the center of Daniel's chest where it rested over his heart.

"He'll be awake soon," Tasha informed Kate "I need him to have no doubts about what's happening. A bit of IV anti-psychotics will do just that." Her wicked grin widened "You see, Josiah and I have been preparing for this one for years."

Kate felt a lump forming in her throat as she was once again reminded of how close she'd come to losing Daniel when she'd been away in DC pursuing her career and first marriage to Donnie. She once again forced her muscles to rebel against the medication as she managed to move a fraction of an inch closer to Daniel.

She glared at Tasha "If you hurt him I swear-"

Tasha threw her head back,laughing hard "What are you gonna do about it when you can barely move?" she inquired, sniffing twice quickly "The sooner you accept that I'm in charge here the easier it'll be on you."

"Go to Hell," Kate growled.

"You first," Tasha struck Kate with the taser again before standing up and leaving the room "See you two soon."

Left alone with her thoughts Kate took comfort in the rhythmic thudding of Daniel's heart beneath her hand. She needed him to wake up so they could escape this nightmare. She needed him to be okay. She just needed him.

It was something she'd come to understand. She needed Daniel Pierce, not just to help solve cases with his brilliant mind and way of looking at things but as a part of her daily life. She'd come to accept that there would never be anything romantic between them. It had always seemed that he had tried to keep his distance from her. Refusing invitations to grab a bite to eat, perhaps seeing more in them because she had secretly wanted them to mean more.

The clincher had come in Paris when he had said that he'd been foolish to think there was a woman who could put up with him. Those words, said right to her face, had stung. She didn't just put up with him, she supported him, defended him and had flown to France just that day to make sure he was alright. It stung to think he would never see her as a prospective romantic partner.

Then when Donnie had proposed... well what's a girl to do when she's being proposed to in Paris? It was true that she cared for Donnie and she felt as though she owed him another chance. Besides he had become accepting of her friendship with Daniel and she needed that, for whoever she was with romantically to accept that Daniel Pierce was part of her life.

Her eyes misted over "I promise you Daniel, I'm gonna get us out of here somehow," with an incredible effort she placed a quick kiss on his cheek.


	3. Chapter 2: Clues

**Alternate**

**Chapter 2: Clues**

**A/N: Big thanks to those who reviewed last chapter Wolfhound159, ChristyLoisGilmore17 and megspazzy.**

Tasha pulled the box of various medications out from under her bed. She took stock of the supply Josiah had been stockpiling since Pierce had told him he'd be returning to the case of the missing agent.

If it weren't for the detail of the car that Pierce had brought up in his session, Josiah would have abducted him that night. Instead the pair of them concocted a false lead. But that damn Pierce had figured Josiah out, landing him in jail and putting Tasha in the awkward position of having to testify against him.

Tasha despised Daniel Pierce and Kate Moretti vehemently. When she'd discovered that Donnie Ryan was engaged to Moretti she'd had a hard time containing her excitement. When she'd finally managed to bribe a guard to sneak Josiah a cell phone he'd been positively giddy. He'd told her that Tasha wouldn't just have Ryan in the palm of her hand but Pierce as well. In Josiah's professional opinion Daniel Pierce was in love with Kate Moretti even if he didn't realize it.

Pierce would do anything for her. Tasha grinned to herself. She had a suspicion that it went both ways. She was planning to take full advantage of their feelings and get them to help her devise a new plan for getting Josiah out of jail. They would figure out a plan or this abduction would become a bloody revenge killing.

_Natalie... She'd known about Natalie... How could she have known? Only a handful of people knew about Natalie. The only one who had ever had any kind of contact with Tasha was... was... no, NO it couldn't be... Could it?_

Daniel came to with a chilling realization. Kate was in a great deep of danger. He became aware of his surroundings, the hand resting above his heart, the person curled up beside him. If it weren't for the concrete floor beneath them he might have been able to trick himself into believing that they were snuggled together in bed, that her engagement to Donnie had all been an elaborate nightmare.

But the danger was real. He could feel it in the way Kate breathed his name, a sort of pained gasp that frightened him. He sat up carefully, discovering that his right wrist was cuffed to Kate's left one. Carefully he moved her onto his lap to look her over. The way the muscles in her body seemed slack worried him. He looked into her face as her head lent against his shoulder.

"I think Tasha has been Rosenthal's accomplice this whole time," he informed her of his revelation while still attempting to gauge her condition.

A short, sardonic laugh escaped Kate's lips "Figured that one out already."

"How?" Daniel inquired.

"She knew about Bishop," Kate replied "Said something about how she was tough at first too."

Daniel's grasp involuntarily tightened upon hearing Tasha's implied threat. "How long was I out?" He questioned.

"About half an hour longer than I was," Kate explained "Tasha came in, taser me a few times, injected me with something that makes it extremely hard to move, injected you with something she claims was antipsychotics and left."

Daniel was angry that he had been medicated without his knowledge but he decided to focus on Kate. He gently maneuvered their cuffed hands towards Kate's un-cuffed one. "Can you feel my fingers?" he asked.

"Uh-huh," she replied.

"Squeeze them as hard as you can," he ordered gently.

An expression of great concentration came over Kate's face as her hand slowly closed around Daniel's fingers.

"Probably a low-dose neuromuscular blocker," Daniel concluded "You haven't had any difficulty breathing, have you?"

"No," she replied "Daniel; we need to get out of here."

He nodded his agreement. Carefully Daniel stood up, supporting Kate against him with his free arm. Her legs dangled beneath her, little better than useless but with Daniel holding her she didn't feel quite so helpless.

"Is it foolish to hope she left the door unlocked?" Daniel questioned as their cuffed hands reached out to the entrance.

"Not foolish to hope," Kate replied "But it would be foolish to expect it." Just as she said this the door slid open.

"I guess it's a good day to be a fool," Daniel remarked as he started up the basement stairs, proceeding as quietly as possible.

The door at the top of the stairs creaked loudly as Daniel pushed it open. The two found themselves in a hallway. Looking around Daniel made the decision to go left "You doing alright?" he asked.

"I feel like a rag doll," Kate responded "But other than that, yeah, I'm peachy."

"Right," Daniel remarked as he caught sight of the front door. He reached it and had his hand on the knob when Tasha appeared at the top of the stairs. Daniel was facing away from her but Kate could see her advancing ever closer over Daniel's shoulder. This time she was armed not with the taser but with a whip.

"Daniel," Kate murmured warningly.

Daniel took the full force of a lash across his back even as he tried to avoid it. Tasha struck again and again with the whip. Kate glared daggers at the woman who had played them for suckers as a strike from the whip hit her arm.

Daniel had been driven to the floor where, not knowing what else to do, he crouched protectively over Kate as Tasha continued to whip him.

"Stop it!" Kate screamed at the mad woman, her voice struggling for but finally finding a note of authority.

Tasha paid her no attention. She continued to lash Daniel until the back of his suit jacket was nothing but bloody shreds of cloth.

Authority gone from Kate's tone, tears tried to choke back her voice as Daniel's face, features twisted in agony, hovered a over hers, she begged "Stop! Stop! Please!"

Tasha smiled as she lowered the whip "That a girl. I told you it'd be easier if you just accept that I'm in charge."

Kate tried again to move her muscles. She desperately wanted to smack Tasha then strangle her with that damn whip. All she could manage was wrapping her free hand around the back of Daniel's head and pulling him down to her "You didn't have to do that," she whispered.

When he replied his breathing was ragged "Yes I did."

Joey had called the other members of his squad to the church. The five other detectives had spread out to search for anything suspicious. Joey had deposited the tiny plastic dots that Abby had found in an evidence bag as soon as he could. He and his partner had found several more of the dots by the stairs.

Jackson and Hirsch had gone to interview wedding guests while Diaz and Powell took a closer look at the changing room. Almost immediately after disappearing upstairs Detective Mona Diaz reappeared "Yo Moretti," she called in a no-nonsense tone "Get your ass up here."

Joey complied. He followed Diaz into the changing room where her partner Loretta Powell was taking photos with her phone.

"Who's been in here since you discovered your sister was missing?" Diaz questioned.

"Just my Dad and Donnie," Joey replied, not quite sure where she was going with this "Sandy and the girls were going to come up here and pack everything up when I called you."

Diaz and Powell shared a knowing look "Men," they said in unison.

Joey was more confused than ever "What does this have to do with anything?"

"The dress," Powell clarified.

"What about it?" Joey was still lost.

"It's just lying in a heap on the floor," Diaz explained "Look I don't care how cold a bride-to-he's feet get. No way does someone spend months planning and then just leave their wedding dress on the floor."

"Kate has never been one for frilly things," Joey commented.

"Doesn't matter," Powell told him "No woman, no matter how much of a tomboy she is at heart, mistreats her wedding dress like this."

"Look Moretti," Diaz put in "I can't speak to your sister's state of mind right before she was supposed to walk down the aisle. But I can tell you that she did not leave this church by choice."

"You were right," Joey's partner, Andy Warren, said as he got off the phone with the lab thirty minutes later "Those little dots were from a taser. And you're never gonna believe who it's registered to."

"Try me," Joey countered before taking a sizable swig from a styrofoam cup of coffee.

"Josiah Rosenthal," Andy stated.

"The serial killer that Kate and Pierce arrested?" Joey's mouth hung open at the revelation. Was someone out for revenge? Was his sister even still alive?

"Better let the FBI know what we found," Andy remarked.

"Yeah," Joey agreed.

Max Lewicki had left the church feeling utterly confused earlier that day. The last time he had seen Daniel Pierce it had been as the doctor had been rushing out of the pews with the hurried explanation "I have to talk to Kate," since then Max had not seen nor heard a thing. And he was getting worried.

Those words "I have to talk to Kate," usually were the result of Daniel's sudden realization of some obscure fact that would crack a case wide open. But as far as Max knew the pair weren't investigating any cases since closing the last one the day before. So Daniel's purpose for seeking out the FBI agent minutes before she was supposed to walk down the aisle was unclear.

Well perhaps not that unclear. Max had been one of those standing near Donnie's sister when she proposed that Kate and Daniel had run off together. It was a hypothesis that Max found himself wanting to believe. There were very few things in life that seemed to make Daniel Pierce happy. As far as Max could tell Kate Moretti was one of those things. Case or no case she had an effect on the neuroscience professor like nothing else Max had seen in all the years he had known Daniel.

Nevertheless upon arriving home Max had called Daniel's new psychiatrist, Dr. Elizabeth Ashbury and warned her that there was a chance Daniel might end up in a psych ward in the near future and that if she did find him there that Max would appreciate a courtesy call. In spite of what Max hoped had happened there was still the chance that Kate's wedding could have caused Daniel to suffer a break with reality. It was always a good idea to be prepared for the worst possible scenario.

A loud pounding on the door snapped Max from his thoughts. Cautiously he moved into the entryway, one hand on his cell phone. He was hesitant to open the door until he heard a familiar voice.

"Open up Daniel you son-of-a-bitch!"

Max pulled the door open and a so-drunk-he-could-barely-stand Donnie nearly fell through it.

"Donnie what the Hell?" Max gaped in a mix of disgust and amazement.

"Where is he Max?" Donnie questioned, slurring his words as he leaned against the doorframe for support.

"Not here," Max replied flatly.

"Would you tell me if he was?" Donnie was starting to look slightly green.

"Depends," Max put out a hand to steady the other man "What are you planning to do to him?"

"Gonna punch that asshole in his smug face for running off with my fiancé!" Donnie declared right before expelling an inordinate amount of vomit and passing out into Max's arms.

Max sighed heavily as he brought Donnie inside and laid him on the couch "Never a dull moment," he muttered as he went to go change his clothes and mop up the rest of Donnie's puke.


	4. Chapter 3: Ultimatum

**Alternate**

**Chapter 3: Ultimatum **

**A/N: Many thanks to Wolfhound159**, **megspazzy, DaisyDay and ChristyLoisGilmore17 for** **reviewing. **

After being none-to-gently returned to the basement Kate lay on the cold, hard floor holding Daniel in her arms. She was trying desperately not to break into tears. It hurt her that Daniel had endured so much pain in an effort to protect her. Tasha had promised that if they tried to escape again that the consequences would be far more brutal. How Kate had come to hate that woman in the three hours since she had regained consciousness.

Though it was still an effort to move Kate found it a bit easier to make her muscles do as she wanted. For the past fifteen minutes she'd been stroking Daniel's hair, caressing his cheek and apologizing again and again for his having suffered.

"Stop," he finally told her, raising his head and placing a finger to her lips.

The intimate gesture surprised Kate but she did not shy away from his touch.

"Don't apologize," he continued, his voice raw as the words tumbled out "I had to protect you."

"You didn't have to protect me," she told him, her voice equally raw with emotion.

"Tasha had put you in a state where you were incapable of protecting yourself," Daniel stated "What else could I do?"

His words, so sincere, broke what little resolve she had let and tears spilled out the corners of Kate's eyes and trickled down into her hairline. They had been so close to escaping. If only she had been able to move she might have been able to spare Daniel the brunt of Tasha's rage.

"Please don't cry Kate?" Daniel pleaded in a soft voice. He shifted out of he arms so that he was lying face down on the floor beside her, his right arm stretching across her body to the point where their wrists were joined. He managed to twist his hand around in the cuff so it could hold hers.

"Why not?" she asked, rolling onto her side to face him "It's painfully obvious that Tasha was at the church to abduct me. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now you're hurt."

"I'm actually glad I'm with you," he admitted.

Kate stared open mouthed at him but before she could say anything he continued.

"Can you imagine what my paranoid mind would make out of your disappearance?" Daniel questioned, the ghost of a chuckled escaping his lips "At least here I know you're still alive instead of the pawn in some elaborate revenge conspiracy cooked up by, oh I don't know, that fake Agent Drexler from Paris."

Kate reached out her free hand to touch his cheek "But you'd be safe," she remarked "Instead we're both pawns in whatever twisted thing Tasha's planning."

"Someone's sure to find us soon," Daniel said. He wasn't used to being the optimistic one.

"No one's even looking," Tasha's voice caused the two on the floor to involuntarily scoot closer together. "Everyone believes that the two of you ran off together to live happily ever after." Tasha laughed bitterly. She knelt down by Kate and Daniel's heads before reaching out and pulling Kate's head back to expose her neck. She pulled out a needle.

Daniel raised himself on his side and brought his cuffed hand to block the needles path "Wait," he said in a near pleading tone "No more drugs."

Tasha slapped him hard across the face "You've proved to me I can't just have you moving around down here," she hissed.

"You did leave the door unlocked," Kate pointed out.

Tasha grabbed the other woman by the hair "You are just lucky I need the two of you alive right now," she weighed.

"If you need us alive," Daniel interjected "You might want to stop injecting us with medicines that could react with each other in ways you're not aware of."

Tasha looked at him as if she was about to slap him again but it seemed like she was considering what he had told her. Finally she put the needle back in her pocket "Fine," she scowled "Now you two brilliant minds are going to do something for me."

"What makes you think we'd ever help you?" Kate questioned bitterly.

"Self preservation," Tasha responded coldly. She stood up and kicked Kate in the back.

Kate bounced into Daniel then the momentum caused Daniel to roll onto the raw, torn and tender fleshy mess his back had become. He inhaled sharply. At that moment Kate's guilt and concern overrode her anger and hatred "What do you want?" she questioned as she stared up at Tasha.

"I need a new plan for getting Josiah out of jail," the mad woman stated.

Kate and Daniel exchanged horrified looks "That's not even possible," Daniel gaped.

"You'd better hope it is," she stared down at the pair in disdain "Or things are going to get a whole lot worse for you," with those ominous words she departed.

"You alright?" Kate asked, reaching out to Daniel.

"My injuries aren't life threatening," he assured her as he struggled into a kneeling position. Sitting was too painful as it put direct pressure on one of the welts left by the whip "Hurts like Hell though," he admitted. He took Kate in his arms and tried to position her so he could get a good look at where Tasha had kicked her "What about you?"

"I'm fine," she lied even as she cooperated with Daniel's inventive choreography so he could examine her back. The truth was that Tasha's kick had hurt quite a lot. The noise that escaped Daniel's lips moments after he managed to lift her shirt up told Kate that it looked at least as bad as it felt.

"I think we could both benefit from getting to a hospital sometime in the near future," Daniel observed.

Kate repositioned herself so she was sitting on the floor beside him "Let's assume that's not gonna happen," she sighed defeatedly.

Daniel lowered himself to the floor and lay face down. He wasn't pleased with the idea of resigning himself to death but things looked pretty hopeless. Tasha might not be the brightest kidnapper but she was dangerous and had no second thoughts about causing her captives pain. If the best chance they had was to help her figure out a scheme to get Rosenthal out of jail... well death almost looked like an appealing option by comparison.

"At least I can almost move normally again," Kate sighed. She stretched out beside Daniel on the floor "We could try to escape again."

Daniel nodded but made no effort to move. The whipping Tasha had dealt him had left him more drained than he wanted to admit. His examination of Kate had nearly depleted him. He took a deep breath and pushed off the floor. He had to move. The alternative was to lie there and wait for Tasha to kill him. And in their current situation his death meant Kate's as well. That was something he just couldn't let happen if he could prevent it.

Kate reached out to steady him as he wobbled slightly and together they moved forward.

Tasha was curled up on her couch watching the evening news. Nothing about the possible abduction of an FBI agent had been mentioned yet but she couldn't afford to be too careful. She'd already almost allowed them to escape.

The secret room in the basement could not be locked but if anyone had the presence of mind to leave the room the only way out of the basement was up the stairs. She had forgotten to lock the basement door once before. That time the intended victim had escaped. This had precipitated the need for the murder of Agent Bishop.

Of course Josiah hadn't been aware of how much the FBI knew. This had meant that they needed to torture Bishop for information. It was this experience that led to Tasha's discovery that she enjoyed causing pain. She was delighted by Bishop's misery in her final hours. From then on she needed to see the pain in the eyes of their victims. She craved it.

Yes she kicked herself for leaving the basement door unlocked but she relished watching Pierce's attempt to shield a helpless Moretti. She grinned to herself when she remembered Moretti begging her to stop. Tasha had shown that little bitch who was in charge and she had loved every minute of it.

Now not only was the basement door locked but Tasha had pulled a particularly weighty bookcase in front of it. She couldn't afford to let them make another escape attempt.

On the news there was a story about Josiah's conviction and how the sentencing hearing hearing would be held the following week. If everything went well and the little captives in Tasha's basement played her game, by next week she and Josiah would be somewhere far away, warm and without an extradition treaty with the United States.

In the basement Kate edged up the stairs just ahead of Daniel. She kept her back against the wall for the purpose of support. Every few seconds she turned to look at Daniel in the dim light. She could tell he was in a great deal of pain. The only thing keeping him from collapsing was the rough concrete sheeting that dug into and rubbed against his wounds as he moved.

Leaning against the wall was painful for Kate as well but the alternative was the rickety open rail on the other side of the stairs that appeared as though if they leaned on it they would have tumbled to the basement floor. Kate wanted to avoid further injuries if possible. And because of their joined wrists climbing the wall side of the stairs put Kate in front.

What ever awaited them on the other side of that door Kate was determined that Daniel would be spared the worst of it. She would never again allow a vicious, vindictive witch to beat her Daniel to his knees.

Finally she reached the top of the stairs. Trying the knob, she was not surprised to find it locked. It would be too much to ask for Tasha to make the same stupid mistake twice. She inhaled deeply, preparing to put all her energy into a kick that could break the door from its hinges.

Daniel's hand on her shoulder halted her just as she lifted her foot. She turned to him and saw that his head was tilted to the side "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Kate took the time to listen and caught the unmistakable chords of music that led off the national nightly news "She's watching TV," she concluded.

"We should wait until she goes upstairs," Daniel suggested.

Kate nodded in agreement. Avoiding a confrontation with Tasha was best. The pair sat side by side on the top step and waited.


	5. Chapter 4: Sobering

**Alternate**

**Chapter 4: Sobering**

**A/N: So sorry but we won't be seeing Daniel and Kate this chapter. Don't kill me?! Trust me when I say I am one of the most dedicated shippers of Pieretti or Kaniel or DK or whatever you choose to call them. But other characters had to be visited to move the story along. I promise to make up for it in a big way next chapter. Please review? Please?**

**Dedication: ChristyLoisGilmore17, DaisyDay and especially Wolfhound159 who puts up with me complaining about this and that. **

Donnie Ryan groaned at the oversized coffee that was forced into his hands. It had been three and a half hours since he had passed out in the entryway of Daniel's house. He hadn't wanted to wake up but Max had been persistent.

"That's it Donnie," Max coaxed as he slowly tipped the largest, most caffeinated Starbucks drink he could get his hands on into Donnie's mouth.

"It's hot," Donnie complained, spitting the first mouthful all over himself.

Max persisted and after a few minutes of exercising the kind of saintly patients one could only learn living with Daniel Pierce, Max had managed to get Donnie to swallow about a quarter of the beverage.

Max set the drink down on the coffee table far enough away from Donnie that he couldn't accidentally knock it over and Donnie immediately lay back down. Max sighed and went back to studying for his sociology exam. He'd have to pour more coffee down Donnie's gullet later. He was deeply engrossed in his study materials when Donnie spoke.

"She left me," he bemoaned "I was good to her this time and she left me, for him."

Max sighed and pushed his textbook aside "And your solution is to get stinking drunk?"

"I could give her so much," Donnie continued "She can't possibly have a normal life with that basket case."

"You're a real ass when you're drunk," Max observed "Until a few hours ago you considered that 'basket case' your friend."

"He ran off with Kate!" Donnie huffed "I'm entitled to be pissed."

"So you're gonna lay here until they show up?" Max questioned.

"I want an explanation," Donnie countered "Not just some lousy text!"

Something clicked in Max's brain "Kate broke it off with you by text?" something seemed off.

"Yeah," Donnie forced himself into a sitting position and handed Max his phone.

Max studied the text message than it came to him "Kate isn't the kind of person to not give an in person explanation."

"Sometimes it feels like I never really knew her at all," Donnie sulked, falling back against the couch cushions.

Mad groaned. It looked like he was going to be stuck with Donnie for a while longer. He briefly considered pouring more coffee into Donnie but when loud snoring emanated from the couch he decided it was a hopeless cause.

Max had just started studying his textbook again when there was a rather insistent wrapping at the door. The young man pushed the book away and groaned. The universe seemed to be plotting against him tonight. He got up and answered the door. He found himself staring at two men, one he recognized as Kate's brother who he had met briefly at the rehearsal dinner, the other man he did not recognize.

Joey stuck out his hand to Max "Hello again Max," he greeted "I don't know if you remember me-"

"Kate's brother Joey," Max took Joey's hand and shook it "Of course I remember you. What can I do for you?"

"Our tech whiz traced Donnie Ryan's phone to this address," the other man interjected "We need his help."

Max stepped aside and allowed the two men to enter "I don't know how much help he'll be. He showed up here a few hours ago fall-down drunk. I tried to get some coffee into him," he indicated the unconscious figure on the couch "I guess it didn't do a whole heck of a lot," he explained. Suddenly a thought occurred to him "What is this about anyway?" he questioned, a bad feeling beginning to take hold in the pit of his stomach.

"Have you seen Doctor Pierce or Agent Moretti since this morning?" the second man inquired.

"No," Max replied "Actually I haven't seen Kate since the rehearsal dinner."

"And has Doctor Pierce contacted you in the hours since you last saw him?"

"No," Max responded "But that's not that unusual. I tried calling Kate but her phone is off."

"Have you had any contact with Josiah Rosenthal over the last twenty four hours?"

Max gaped at the man "Rosenthal? Why-?"

"Kruger, lay off, okay," Joey, who had been trying, unsuccessfully, to rouse Donnie, intervened. He turned to Max "Sorry, Special Agent Kruger lacks in social graces."

Kruger became irate at this "I would think, Moretti that since its your sister who's missing you would be just as willing to forego the 'social graces'."

Joey sighed. He hated that he'd been teamed up with this guy for the duration of this joint CPD/FBI investigation "Max was in the sanctuary with the rest of the wedding guests when Kate and Pierce were abducted. He's not our kidnapper."

"Kidnapper...?" Max knew there was something off about that text message on Donnie's phone. He took a seat as mentally he kicked himself over and over again. Why hadn't he suspected something sooner? Why had he been so willing to accept that Daniel would eventually fill him in? Why hadn't he called the police earlier? He felt like an idiot.

"By someone with ties to Rosenthal," Kruger, accepting the young man's obvious shock as proof of his innocence, explained.

"And we need Donnie here to have a chat with Rosenthal so we can toss his cell for evidence that might point to who that person is," Joey explained as he shook his would-be brother-in-law by both shoulders "Come on Donnie, wake your worthless ass up!"

"Outta my face Joey..." Donnie mumbled.

Joey hauled him up by the collar of his shirt "What would Kate say if she could see you now?" he asked in disgust. It was a replay of the morning after Donnie's bachelor party except this time the reason for Donnie to sober up quickly was far more serious than brunch with the two soon-to-be-in-law families.

Max got up and retrieved the cup of coffee. He attempted to get Donnie to drink it while Joey continued to yell at Donnie.

"You're a useless piece of shit, you know that?! She would be better off if she had run off with Daniel Pierce! Instead she and Pierce are kidnapped by some psycho and what do you do?! You go on the mother of all benders! Christ Donnie! What's wrong with you?!"

Donnie's face showed no signs that any of Joey's words were doing anything but annoying him but he had started gulping down the coffee on his own. When the cup was empty Donnie simply let it drop to the floor "Wh-whaddaya mean kidnapped?" he questioned, his speech still slurred but his eyes appearing a little less cloudy.

"Time is a factor gentlemen," Kruger remarked.

"I'll go get more coffee," Max shrugged, heading for the door.

"I'll come with you," Kruger offered.

They returned to the house fifteen minutes later carrying trays and trays of caffeinated beverages as well as a large bag of cookies and assorted pastries. Upon entering the house it became evident that neither Donnie nor Joey were in the living room. Max and Kruger set their haul on the kitchen table before following the sound of running water and raised voices to the upstairs bathroom.

"Get off me!" Donnie was screaming as Joey held him in place beneath the ice cold deluge.

"Not until you get your shit together!" Joey shouted in Donnie's face.

"She left me!" Donnie snapped.

"She should have you idiot!" Joey retorted "But she didn't, someone abducted her! We need you to meet with Rosenthal so we can figure out who!"

This shouted exchange lasted another ten minutes of Donnie bemoaning his being jilted and Joey shouting facts peppered with insults in his face. Max and Kruger didn't stick around for the entire back and forth, instead retreating downstairs to wait it out.

The two took seats in the living room. After a long moment Kruger finally spoke "Sorry if I was a little hard on you earlier. I've got an FBI agent and an FBI consultant missing, it appears to be connected to one of the most heinous serial killers in recent memory and on top of that I've been partnered with the missing agents brother and put in charge of rounding up her wayward US Attorney fiancé. I want answers and I may have overstepped in search of them."

"I get it," Max replied simply.

"Actually being Doctor Pierce's assistant I thought maybe, just maybe you wanted to do away with him," Kruger chuckled "Lord knows it took a great deal of my patience to keep from strangling him the first time we worked together."

Max chuckled a bit "He takes some getting used to," he admitted "But once you get to know him... well he's an ass but deep down there's a decent human being that pops up every once in a while."

Kruger crossed and uncrossed his legs, trying to ge comfortable "I get the feeling that that decent human being tends to come out a lot more frequently in the presence of Agent Moretti," he observed.

"It was believable that they would have run off together," Max still felt like a complete idiot.

"You weren't the only one," Kruger observed "Obviously Ryan thought it happened."

"Well I'm a gullible jackass," the two turned to see a dripping wet Donnie Ryan with a coffee in one hand and a look of shame upon his face "Let's go make this bastard sweat."

"First we're gonna swing by your apartment and get you some fresh clothes," Joey remarked.

"These would be fine if someone hadn't stuffed me in the shower," Donnie objected.

"Then you'd still be incoherently babbling on the sofa," Joey told him. He grabbed Donnie's other arm and began dragging him towards the door.

Kruger went into the kitchen and retrieved most of the remaining coffees "We'll call if we learn anything," he promised Max.

"Thanks," Max managed a half smile at the FBI agent.

When they had left Max returned to the living room and packed away his textbook and study materials. There was no way he was going to be able to focus on anything other than worrying now. He walked into the kitchen, grabbed the remaining coffee and a cookie from the bag and settled in for a long night.


	6. Chapter 5: Salvation

**Alternate**

**Chapter 5: Salvation**

**A/N: Thanks for not murdering me over the last chapter. Please don't murder me over this one?**

**Dedication: To my wonderful reviewers Wolfhound159, megspazzy, ChristyLoisGilmore17 and DaisyDay. **

Sitting on the top step of the basement stairs was none-too-comfortable for either of them but they stayed because of the tantalizing possibility of freedom. The pair listened as Tasha transitioned from the evening news to a B-rate comedy. It was truly disturbing how raucously a woman who was currently holding two people against their will could laugh.

With every second that ticked by Daniel wondered if he was only minutes away from confronting his own mortality head on. He tried to remain calm but the terror deep in the pit of his stomach would not subside. He glanced sidelong at Kate, remembering what he'd been on his way to tell her when he'd run into Tasha. A lump formed in his throat.

"You should tell her," his younger self, leaning up against the wall a few steps down, commented.

Daniel shook his head. It seemed as though whatever medication Tasha had given him had either worn off or hadn't been strong enough to begin with.

"Don't be stupid," his younger self berated "If you don't say something now you might never get the chance."

"Go away," Daniel muttered at his hallucination.

Kate glanced over at Daniel "Hmm?" she inquired, having been deep in thought.

"Nothing," Daniel assured her.

"No, not nothing!" his hallucination screamed "Tell her!"

Daniel glared at the younger version of himself, willing the pesky phantasm to leave, which of course he did not.

"Daniel, you need to be honest with yourself and with Kate," Daniel's jaw went slack when Natalie appeared directly in front of him, her hand on his knee "You love Kate."

"Of cours I do," Daniel replied "But Donnie's better for her. Being with me would just slowly suffocate her beautiful spirit," he hung his head as Natalie's hand moved from his knee to his cheek "I couldn't live with myself if that happened."

Natalie's sudden appearance had surprised and in a way delighted Daniel so much that he'd slipped into a conversation with her, forgetting for a brief moment that Kate was sitting right beside him. But a moment was all it took. Kate had been oddly transfixed by Daniel's body language as he interacted with someone she couldn't see when he began to speak softly to the invisible presence. The words made Kate's stomach do a somersault.

She reached out and touched Daniel's cheek. As Daniel became aware of Kate's touch Natalie leaned in and kissed him on the forehead "Goodbye Daniel," she smiled sweetly before fading away. Surprisingly, Daniel didn't stare longingly at the place where she had been. Instead he found himself staring into Kate Moretti's compassionate face.

"Shouldn't it be my choice who's better for me?" Kate asked.

Realizing he had been caught, Daniel tried to break eye contact with her but found it impossible "Kate..." he began.

Just then the pair became aware of the background noise of the television suddenly being cut off. They held their breaths as each strained to be able to track Tasha's movements through the house. When they heard feet on stairs above them they knew that the best time for their escape attempt was drawing near.

The minutes that passed seemed like hours. Finally Kate pulled herself to her feet. Daniel followed suit and they began figuring out the best position for Kate's kick to have maximum effect.

As they stood close together in the near darkness Kate leaned in and whispered "The second that door goes down we start moving."

Daniel nodded "I'll be right behind you," he assured.

"And Daniel," she added, leaning even closer, her lips either by accident or design he wasn't sure, ghosting across his cheek "We're going to have a long talk when we're out of here."

Not knowing what to say Daniel simply nodded again.

"On the count of three," Kate explained. Though she had recovered from the neuromuscular blocking drug she was sore and significantly weakened by Tasha's cruelty. As she inhaled deeply she just hoped she had enough strength left to bust down that door.

She felt Daniel's hand squeeze hers "Ready when you are," he whispered.

She could feel the confidence in his tone, the confidence he had in her. She drew strength from it as she began the count "One... Two... Three!"

The door splintered and came off its hinges. This was quickly followed by a loud crash as a large bookcase that had been sitting in front of the door and all its contents went tumbling to the floor. For the briefest of moments Daniel and Kate looked at each other. The next moment they were in motion.

Kate was first to clamber over the debris, her cuffed hand holding tight to Daniel's. They reached the front door far quicker than the first time. It opened easily but just as they stepped outside a screaming Tasha flung herself down the stairs after them. Neither Kate nor Daniel bother to look back as they fled down the street.

They passed house after darkened house with Tasha hot on their heels. As they rounded a corner Daniel slipped. He did his best to keep from falling but it was in vein. He ended up dragging Kate down on top of him just as a loud pop echoed through the silent streets.

"Shit," he heard Kate mutter. Daniel did his best to scramble to his feet but Kate held him in place "Stay low," she advised in what sounded like a pained voice. She began an awkward crawl along the gutter.

Daniel followed her lead even though the going was much too slow. He couldn't be sure how much ground Tasha had gained on them but every rustle in the bushes he imagined as being her. As they crawled Daniel became aware of Kate's pace growing gradually slower. He was about to ask her about it when another loud pop sounded from behind them. Daniel found himself pulled flush against the pavement by Kate.

"Are you hit?" she asked in a desperate whisper.

"No," Daniel assured her as he reached his free hand up to touch her shoulder. He was horrified when his hand came away covered in her blood.

Approaching footsteps cut his words short before they'd even formed in his mouth. In the glow of a street lamp he watched as Tasha Ogden strode closer. Wearing a nightgown and hair unkempt she wouldn't have appeared all that threatening were it not for the gun she held at the ready. Daniel had never wanted so badly for something not to be real. He blinked several times, repeating in his head that this couldn't be real.

But Tasha kept advancing on them and Kate's blood slowly oozed from the wound in her shoulder to soak into his shirt as she lay on top of him protectively. Tears pricked his eyes as he begged for this all to be a delusion. He had suffered a break with reality because of his conflicting emotions about Kate marrying Donnie. That had to be it. There was no other explanation because this could not be real.

But Tasha was standing over them now, seeming to take a sick pleasure in watching Daniel's misery.

"You're not real," he told her.

Kate lifted her head to look from Tasha to Daniel. She was about to say something when a loud siren pierced the silence and flashing lights cut through the darkness. A black and white police car pulled to an abrupt stop beside them. Two CPD uniformed officers jumped out, their guns pointed at Tasha.

"Drop your weapon!" one of the officers ordered.

Tasha complied after a fraction of a second and was soon taken into custody. She sat in the back of the police car watched closely by one of the officers while the other called for paramedics.

Kate swore to Daniel that her wound was superficial as the officer helped them to their feet. Daniel refused to take her word for it until he'd had a closer look at it for himself. With the aid of the flashlight app on the officet's phone he concluded that it was a mostly superficial wound.

The next few minutes moved by in a surreal daze for Daniel. Paramedics arrived and used bolt cutters to remove the handcuffs that had kept Kate and Daniel attached all day. Even as the paramedics began to treat them Kate insisted on remaining near Daniel. All the way to the hospital she whispered to him, held his hand and stroked his cheek.

"You alright?" she asked as they pulled into the ambulance bay.

Daniel inhaled sharply as one of the paramedics poured antiseptic on one of the more severe gouges left by Tasha's whip "Not really," he admitted, fear and anxiety still coursing through him. He managed a small smile as he squeezed her hand tight "But I will be."

At the hospita they were finally forced to separate. As a doctor sewed up her shoulder, Kate tried not to fidget. She wanted to get back to Daniel. He may have only been a few doors down the hall from where she was but the distance felt so much greater. There were still things they needed to talk about. Thinking of those things made her heart flutter and her stomach drop into her shoes at the same time. It was ironic that it took until her wedding day for her to get a glimpse of Daniel Pierce's true feelings.

After the doctor had finished patching her up one of the officers who had rescued them took her statement. Once that was done Kate made her way into the hall despite the doctor's orders that she try to get some rest. She had barely taken two steps into the hall when...

"Kate!" Donnie ran towards her, scooping her up in his arms and aggravating her injured shoulder in the process "Thank God you're okay."


	7. Chapter 6: Caress

**Alternate**

**Chapter 6: Caress **

**A/N: Took a while to get this chapter done and I hope it was worth it. **

**Dedication: To my wonderful reviewers ChristyLoisGilmore17, Wolfhound159, DaisyDay and megspazzy. **

Kate found herself back in her hospital room surrounded by Donnie, her father, brother and sister-in-law. The group peppered her with questions. Kate filled them in and learned about what she'd missed from Donnie and Joey.

Apparently the CPD officers hadn't been in the right place at the right time by coincidence. They had been one of two cars sent to Tasha Ogden's home after Donnie had gotten Rosenthal to give up the name of his accomplice. Shortly after they had arrived in the neighborhood dispatch had relayed a 911 call about an armed woman in a nightgown who matched Tasha's description. Leaving one pair of officers to search the seemingly empty house, the other pair went to investigate and came upon Daniel and Kate just in time.

As interested in the details as Kate was she was eager to see Daniel. However separating herself from the small cluster of people seemed impossible. They were determined to fawn over her and hover around her. Only when a nurse came to check Kate's vital signs did she get a reprieve.

"I thought you were supposed to be resting?" the nurse asked. Her tone was accusatory but she flashed Kate's visitors a soft smile "All of you out," she shoed them out and turned to Kate "In bed right now Agent Moretti."

Kate complied "I feel fine," she protested as the nurse wrapped a sphygmomanometer around her right upper arm.

"Until your blood work comes back and we know just what you were injected with, we can't just take your word for it," the cuff began to tighten around Kate's arm.

Kate sighed heavily as the nurse stuck a thermometer under her tongue.

"You and Doctor Pierce are like two impatient peas in a pod," the nurse reflected "He wants out of here too," the cuff on Kate's arm relaxed and the nurse stared sternly at the numbers "Lie down right now," she advised Kate "Your blood presure's a little low," she snatched the beeping thermometer from between Kate's lips "At least your temperature is normal," she observed.

Kate tried to get comfortable in the hospital bed as the nurse checked her blood oxygen level. It was hard to believe that her blood pressure was running low when she was feeling so antsy. She was eager to see Daniel, to talk to him. She was glad that the nurse had shoed Donnie away before he could attempt to kiss her goodbye and that none of her guests had had time to bring up the wedding because quite honestly she wasn't sure what to tell Donnie. She had to know for certain what Daniel felt, she had to hear him say it. She was clear on how she felt about him. She loved him and had for a long time. But she'd never imagined he could return those feelings. And then there was Donnie.

She did care about Donnie. The effort he'd put into trying to get her back had been endearing and being proposed to in Paris, she'd been swept up in the romance. And there was a part of her that felt as though she owed him. The first marriage had gone by in a blur. Now that they were both a little older and a bit wiser... But she didn't really love him, not in the head-over-heels heart-a-flutter way she had always secretly dreamed of being in love. The way she felt around Daniel.

For a long time she had tried to tell herself that it was just the remnants of a girlish crush. But the feeling that she got when he looked at her, when he said her name, they persisted. She had indulged in a fantasy the night before of Daniel standing up at the wedding and declaring his love for her. It had been foolish but he had kept creeping into her head as she'd tried to sleep.

"Now, I want you to stay in bed," the nurse was telling her.

Kate nodded, knowing she was probably going to disobey as soon as she possibly could. The nurse left Kate alone and she immediately sat up in bed. She listened to the nurse making her way down the hall.

After having been ousted from Kate's room Donnie had gone to see Daniel. There was something the two of them needed to discuss. Daniel was lying on his stomach, his arms crossed beneath his pillow and his face turned to one side. Donnie pulled up a chair and took a seat.

"What do you want?" Daniel asked, sounding exhausted.

"Good to see you too Daniel," Donnie countered. He looked around "Where's Max?"

"I sent him home," Daniel answered "He was hovering."

Donnie sighed "We have a problem," he began.

"Is Kate okay?" Daniel inquired, his tone suddenly one of concern.

"She's fine," Donnie assured "It's about Rosenthal. His lawyer's trying to get his conviction overturned."

Daniel lifted his head and stared in disbelief "What?!"

"Since Tasha's testimony was a key factor in his conviction..." Donnie scrubbed his hand across his face "Look the best situation we can hope for is a retrial. To get Rosenthal to give up Tasha's name I may have had to help push through the appeal his attorney was filing. I'm gonna need you to testify."

Daniel lay his head back down on the pillow facing away from Donnie "Do I have a choice?" he asked.

"You do," Donnie pointed out "Unfortunately the other option is that Rosenthal may walk."

"When do you need me?" Daniel asked, resigning himself to the task.

"Sometime next week," Donnie told him "I just wanted to give you a heads up."

"Appreciate it," Daniel mumbled.

Donnie stood up and was about to leave when he spotted someone standing in the hall "Kate?" he questioned "I thought you were supposed to be resting."

Kate Moretti looked away from her fiancé's gaze "I came to see how Daniel was," she said quietly, not revealing the other reason she was there.

Daniel managed a small smile at her "I'm fine Kate, go get some sleep."

Kate felt the sudden urge to grab him by the collar of his hospital gown and shake him. He was either being oblivious or deliberately evasive. It was infuriating. But she was determined to talk this thing over with him as soon as possible.

Donnie smiled softly at Kate as he reached out to wrap an arm around her waist "See," he began to guide her towards the door "I'll walk you back to your room."

"No," Kate's tone was far more snappish than necessary as she pushed Donnie away. She felt a momentary pang at the flicker of hurt that flashed across his features "I really need to talk to Daniel," she clarified.

"About...?" Donnie asked, not unreasonably.

Kate paused, not sure what to say. She looked over at Daniel for help but he offered none.

"I'm gonna go get a cup of coffee," Donnie decided after observing Kate's evasive body language. He wasn't sure exactly what they were going to talk about but he got the feeling he was better off not knowing. He left the room as fast as he could.

Kate made her way over to the seat Donnie had been occupying and dropped into it "Where's Max?" she questioned, choosing to start on a benign topic.

"Sent him home," Daniel explained "He kept bringing me juice boxes and graham crackers from the nurses' station."

Kate noticed the pile of tiny packages of crackers on the table beside the bed and the assortment of juice boxes that sat beside them. "You don't mind do you?" she asked, reaching for the pile.

Daniel laughed "Not in the slightest," he replied.

Kate withdrew an apple juice box and a packet of graham crackers. She stabbed the juice box with the pointed end of the straw and sipped at it.

Daniel watched her silently. He knew exactly what she wanted to talk about but he didn't want to be the one to broach the subject.

Kate set the juice box on the table and took a deep breath "In the basement before we escaped the second time...?" the words she needed to say just wouldn't come and the question was left dangling between them.

"And you caught me talking to a hallucination?" his tone was bitter and accusatory as if she'd been purposely eavesdropping on him. But his voice was also oddly subdued with a note of soft acceptance to it.

"Were you talking about what I think you were talking abou?" she asked.

"That's awfully vague Kate," Daniel remarked.

"You were talking about me," she stated rather than asked.

"Yes," Daniel confirmed.

"And how I'd be better off with Donnie than with you," she didn't even wait for confirmation this time "What gives you the right to decide who I'm with Daniel Pierce?" her voice had become slightly elevated.

"Because I want you to be happy," he defended, raising his head off the pillow and rolling onto his side.

"How do you know what or who will make me happy?" she had stood from the chair and was leaning over the bed, her face perilously close to his.

Like in the basement, Daniel found it impossible to break eye contact "I don't," he admitted "But I know it's not me."

"How wrong you are," she whispered. She traced his cheek with her index finger "How wrong you are."

Daniel placed his hand over hers "I can't have my illness do to you what it did to Miranda," he told her.

"Miranda was a bitch," Kate stated simply, feeling so much better now that she'd said out loud what she'd been thinking for months "When you love someone you find the strength to love them even when things aren't easy," she leaned in and pressed her lips to Daniel's "You love them always," she said as she pulled back.

Daniel stared in wide-eyed wonder. A slow smile crept onto his face. He took in the beautiful, strong, incredible woman in front of him. Her words replayed in his mind. She was correct. It was not his place to say who would make her happy.

Daniel reached for her, drawing her back to him. He rolled onto his back, pulling her on top of him. The pain of his injuries nothing compared to the joy of having Kate Moretti, safe and sound, in his arms.

Kate managed to rearrange the both of the so they were lying on their sides, facing each other. She refused to be responsible for making Daniel's injuries worse. The two lay gazing at each other for a long moment.

Daniel finally broke the silence "I love you."

Kate smiled brightly "I was hoping you did," she kissed him again. This time the kiss deepened as Daniel reciprocated. The kiss was sweet, tender and yet still somehow passionate. As they came up for air both wondered why they hadn't done this long ago.

"By the way Daniel," Kate, still panting, remarked "In case that didn't make it clear: I love you too." She relaxed into Daniel's embrace and closed her eyes.

In the hallway an emotionally shattered Donnie Ryan turned on his heel and walked quickly away.


	8. Chapter 7: Sleepless

**Alternate**

**Chapter 7: Sleepless**

**A/N: I'm trying to bring this story to a conclusion soon. I may write a sequel if there's enough interest in it. **

**Dedication: To my wonderful reviewers/repeat customers Wolfhound159, ChristyLoisGilmore17, DaisyDay and megspazzy. **

Kate hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep in Daniel's arms until she was shaken awake by an irate nurse "Glad you managed to get some rest," she remarked humorlessly.

Kate looked over at Daniel who appeared chagrined "I didn't want to wake you," he explained.

"Good thing I came here first or I might have started an all out search for you," the nurse continued "Now up, up, up. Those beds weren't designed for snuggling they were made for recovery."

"But she's helping me recover," Daniel protested as Kate reluctantly left the bed.

The nurse laughed "That is one of the lamer excuses I've ever heard in over thirty years of doing this job. Don't worry Doctor Pierce, I'm sure Agent Sneaky here will be back to see you the second I turn my back."

Kate, the chagrined look on her face matching Daniel's expression, allowed herself to be led from the room and back to her own.

"Stay here," the nurse told her "If it had been your doctor that discovered you missing or one of your family members, things could have been a lot more serious. They probably wouldn't think to look for you cuddling up just a few doors away."

Kate sighed and settled into bed a bit grumpily.

"Trust me," the nurse, whose name was Sally, continued "I understand you're worried about him and I can tell he's concerned about you but for the sake of my sanity just stay here for a few hours. You'll both be discharged in the morning and then you can do whatever you want wherever you want whenever you want."

Kate nodded and closed her eyes. She didn't have much trouble falling back asleep. When she did, Daniel filled her dreams. And for the first time she didn't fight against them.

Sally returned to Daniel's room "You try to sleep too," she ordered.

"I was," Daniel defended.

"Don't lie to me Doctor Pierce," Sally scolded "I saw you watching her sleep. It was actually very adorable but you two are going to get me in trouble if you don't stay put."

"Yes ma'am," Daniel grumbled.

Sally snorted at his attitude and left the room.

Daniel allowed his eyes to drift shut. He was still on the natural high that came from finding out that Kate loved him. There were loads of thoughts swirling around his brain, some wonderful, others terrifying. His mind skipped from thought to thought never resting on one longer than a fraction of a second.

There was one certainty that drowned the other thoughts and doubting voices out: Kate Moretti loved him and she wanted to be with him. That made him happy, happier than he'd been in a long time. A sort of peace enveloped him and he began to drift off.

"Way to go man," his younger self appeared to insure he wouldn't be enjoying sleep just yet.

"Come on," Daniel groaned "Couldn't you wait until the sun comes up to congratulate me?"

"Nope," the other him smiled as he took a seat "I'm just really happy for you. Sure you didn't come right out and say it all those times that you should have but better late than never, right?"

"Okay," Daniel sighed "You've congratulated me, now go away," he gestured at his hallucination "Bye, bye now."

"When has that ever worked?" young Daniel smirked "So I don't suppose you want to toast your good fortune with a cup of coffee?"

"I don't drink..." Daniel stopped short as something occurred to him. Donnie, damn it, Donnie hadn't returned from his coffee run. Well not that Daniel or Kate would have noticed. They'd been so wrapped up in each other at the time.

"Shit," Daniel muttered as he got out of bed.

At that moment Donnie was halfway into his second six pack. It was the second time in twenty four hours that he'd gotten completely shit faced. At least this time he had more than a text message to back up his misery. He couldn't even bring himself to return to the apartment. He was sitting in his car in the convenience store parking lot, drowning his feelings with alcohol.

Eventually he just passed out against the steering wheel. He would deal with his emotions later but now he just wanted to hide from the pain. In the back of his mind as he lost consciousness the thought that this was perhaps akin to how Kate felt when he cheated on her during their first marriage occurred to him. But he was far too inebriated to care.

"What...?" Kate murmured sleepily as she stared at Daniel as he stood before her talking at lightening speed.

"I think Donnie saw us together," Daniel repeated. As happy as it made him that his feelings for Kate were reciprocated, he didn't relish the idea of Donnie having come upon them during the intimate time they had shared.

Kate stared open mouthed. She knew she'd eventually have to talk to Donnie but she had hoped she could break the news gently. Coming upon them the way he must have... it must have been like a punch in the gut. "Oh God..." she groaned. She stood from the bed and immediately reached for Daniel for support.

Daniel held her close. He briefly feared that perhaps Kate's regret over Donnie's having seen them might translate into her going back to him. The way she clung to him in that moment did a great deal to ease that fear.

"I need to talk to him," Kate sighed. She tugged on Daniel's arm, directing him to sit beside her on the bed as she reached for the room phone. She dialed Donnie's cell but got no answer. She hung up and turned to Daniel "I hope he didn't go and do something stupid," she sighed.

Daniel couldn't help being worried about Donnie as well. He wrapped an arm around Kate and tried to think of something reassuring to say to her. Unfortunately he couldn't shake the feeling that Donnie had indeed done something stupid. So he said nothing as Kate leaned into his embrace.

Several minutes passed before either of them , sounding bitter, blurted out "He is not allowed to make me worry about him," she reached for the phone and called her brother.

"Hello...?" Joey Moretti sounded as if he'd been woken out of a deep sleep.

"Joey, I need a favor."

"Kate its five thirty in the morning," Joey griped.

"I know and I'm sorry but..." Kate preceded to explain to Joey the entire awkward situation. When she had finished Joey was laughing.

"Serves him right," Joey managed to get control of himself "And you want me to find him and the bottle he's undoubtedly crawled into?"

"If you could," Kate replied timidly.

Joey sighed "And what do you want me to do when I find him?"

"I don't know," Kate admitted "Just make sure he's not dead, okay?"

"If he's not dead can I smack him around a little?"

"Why?" Kate questioned.

"Because once again he's managed to guilt trip you," Joey explained.

"At least this time I was doing something to feel guilty about," she murmured, not noticing when Daniel moved slightly away from her on the bed.

"You didn't do anything to him that was nearly as bad as what he did to you," Joey pointed out. "What was it you told Sandy, you came home and found him screwing your best friend on the kitchen table?"

Kate groaned "Your wife is a real blabber mouth..."

"And you've become a pushover," Joey countered.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Joey told her "You never take the kind of shit from anyone the way I've seen you take shit from Donnie."

"Whatever, just find Donnie, okay?" Kate sighed. She didn't want to travel any further down memory lane right now.

"I'll do it but you owe me triple for this," Joey grumbled before hanging up the phone.

Kate hung up the phone and turned to Daniel "Joey'll find him."

"What happens then?" Daniel asked out of curiosity.

"Then I explain that it's over and it should have been over a long time ago," she replied "I wish he hadn't found out the way he had but I am actually kind of relieved that he knows."

Daniel nodded "Kind of surprised that he didn't throw that coffee he went to get in my face," he chuckled slightly.

Kate wrapped her arms around him "If he tried something like that he'd be in a world of hurt," she assured him.

Daniel smiled slightly as he reached out to brush a stray strand of hair from her face. He very nearly kissed her but they were interrupted.

"The two of you, I swear..."

"Busted..." Kate murmured as a very irritated looking Sally marched into the room.

"I've been the supervising nurse for pediatric cancer wards loaded with horny teenagers who weren't as bad as the two of you," Sally declared as she grabbed Daniel by the arm and forced him to his feet.

"Good night Kate," Daniel called as he was led from the room.

"Good night Daniel," Kate smiled softly as she settled back into bed "See you soon."

As expected this last remark elicited a snort from Sally which resulted in a laugh from Daniel.

Joey had begun his search at the twenty four hour convenience store nearest to Kate and Donnie's apartment. He didn't even have to go inside to ask the clerk if he'd seen Donnie. He spotted Donnie's car in the parking lot instantly. He strode over to the driver's side window and tapped loudly on the glass. There was no answer. He took out his cell phone and used the flashlight app to get a better look at the interior of the car.

The front seat was littered with empty beer bottles but there was no sign of Donnie. He wasn't in the back seat either. Joey tried the door and found it unlocked. Inside in addition to the empty beer bottles Joey found a half empty bottle of scotch and an untouched bottle of tequila but no Donnie.

Joey groaned as he wondered how long it would be before a simple favor for his sister would turn into an all out search for a federal prosecutor. If he didn't find Donnie soon he would have to report this to his lieutenant. Though at the moment it didn't look as though Donnie had met with foul play that didn't rule it out as a possibility. As Joey attempted to figure out what directIon Donnie had gone in after leaving the car the first rays of sunlight began to illuminate the sky over Chicago.

Kate found it impossible to fall back asleep. As the sky began to lighten outside the window of her hospital room she shifted positions multiple times but couldn't get comfortable. Eventually she left her bed and, being careful to not attract Sally's attention, crept down the hall to Daniel's room.

She found him sleeping. Rather than wake him she took a seat beside his bed. Somehow it made her feel better just to be near him. Somehow he'd always had that effect on her.

Daniel began to stir in his sleep. A few moments later his eyelids fluttered. The first thing he saw when he woke wasn't Kate but his younger self leaning up against the wall.

"It's a brand new day," the college kid he had once been smiled brightly.

"Uh/huh," Daniel murmured drowsily.

"Why so glum?" his hallucination asked.

"Because," Daniel remarked, too foggy with sleep to bother with preamble "What if it was a mistake, telling Kate how I feel? I don't want to hurt her."

His hallucination nodded sympathetically as Daniel felt a hand alight on his shoulder. He turned and froze. Once again his hallucinations had betrayed him to Kate.

"You won't hurt me," she told him "I'm made of some pretty tough stuff," she leaned in and kissed him.

Daniel reciprocated instantly. When they pulled apart he studied her seriously "Do you have the slightest idea how amazing you are?"

Kate felt her cheeks grow hot. She almost broke eye contact with him out of embarrassment "Flatterer," she murmured.

"When have you ever known me to flatter anyone Kate?" Daniel asked.

This time she did look away. She didn't feel especially amazing at that moment.

Daniel sat up and cupped her face "What's wrong? Was your brother able to find Donnie?"

She shook her head "I haven't heard from Joey yet," she replied.

The conversation would have continued if not for Sally having discovered them again. The nurse sighed dramatically "I'm going to be so glad when my shift is over," she declared.

"Mother hen is back," Kate observed as she stood. She wrapped Daniel in a hug and kissed him tenderly "I'll see you as soon as the doctor gives me my walking papers."

As she pulled away Daniel took her hand in his and squeezed "Love you," he whispered.

She leaned in and kissed him again "Love you too."

"The doctor's making his rounds now," Sally informed Kate impatiently.

On the street after almost forty five minutes of trying to track Donnie's movements and adding to the tally of return favors his sister owed him for this in his head, Joey came upon a large puddle of vomit. While he couldn't be sure that the puddle had been left by Donnie, it seemed like a pretty safe bet.

The vomit was just inside the entrance to a playground. Though it was still early morning there were a few children and their parents milling around. Joey grumbled to himself as he entered the playground. At least the presence of all these children would prevent him from murdering Donnie.

An hour later Donnie awoke to a stick poking him in the face. He reached up to shield himself.

"Holy crap he's alive," he heard a boy exclaim. This was followed by the screams of a handful of children as they fled.

Donnie groaned as he opened his eyes and bright sunlight flooded his vision. When his vision cleared he noticed a girl, about six years old, watching him. He forced himself into a sitting position and smiled awkwardly at the girl. He could already tell this was going to be a rough day.


	9. Chapter 8: Confluence

**Alternate**

**Chapter 8: Confluence**

**A/N: Finally finished this one. I hope you enjoy it and especially the last part *wicked grin*. as always reviews are much appreciated and loved. **

**Dedication: To the wonderfully loyal Wolfhound159, ChristyLoisGilmore17 and DaisyDay. Also many thanks to an unnamed **Guest reviewer.

The little girl scampered away and Donnie rubbed his eyes. He hadn't remembered leaving the car. He hadn't the slightest idea how he'd ended up in a park. His head hurt and he was about to lie down in the grass to continue sleeping it off when a shadow fell across the grass in front of him.

"I hope you're proud of yourself," Joey Moretti looked pissed "Get up before some idiot with a cell phone snaps a photo or some video and your drunk ass is all over the Internet."

Donnie pulled himself to his feet "What are you doing here anyway?" he asked.

"Doing my sister a favor that she will owe me until the end of time for," Joey replied "Come on I'll buy you a cup of coffee. I think we need to have a talk."

"Kate sent you?" Donnie asked bitterly and a bit disbelievingly.

"Well I certainly didn't come looking for you out of the goodness of my heart," Joey retorted.

"So, details?" Kate's sister-in-law Sandy had brought Kate a change of clothes. Sandy had gather from Joey that Donnie had witnessed something transpire between Kate and Daniel. She had dropped her children off with their grandfather for church early that morning.

Kate rolled her eyes "There's not much to tell," she shrugged. Not only was she not in the mood to talk about it, after finding out that Joey knew the details of how she'd discovered Donnie's affair, she wasn't sure she could trust Sandy.

"Tell me anyway," Sandy leaned forward conspiratorially.

Kate shook her head "Just let it go."

"Why would you do that to me?" Sandy sighed exasperatedly as her gaze turned to the ceiling "I thought I told you at Easter that there are three words I never wanted to hear again."

"Oops, I forgot," Kate smirked triumphantly. She hadn't forgotten in the least about how frustrated Sandy had become with that particular ear worm of a Disney song.

"No you didn't," Sandy accused "But since you're so willing to employ mental torture I'll drop the subject. I'll just say that I'm very happy for you."

"Thank you," Kate replied, then added as the words truly registered "You're happy I was unfaithful to my fiancé the evening we should have been on our honeymoon?"

"Unfaithful...? You didn't have sex in a hospital bed, did you?" Sandy was shocked.

"No!" Kate said loudly "We just kissed and told each other how we felt."

"Thanks for the details," Sandy grinned.

Kate groaned and smacked her sister-in-law's arm "Let it go, Let it go, Can't hold it back anymore..." she sang.

"I will pay you to never do that again," Sandy groaned.

"Just don't tell anyone about what you just tricked me into telling you," Kate sighed.

"I promise," Sandy said sincerely.

"Just like you promised not to tell anyone about Donnie screwing my best friend?" Kate countered.

Sandy's mouth dropped open "Damn," she murmured before looking directly at Kate again "I'm sorry. When I told Joey, it was right after he told me that you and Donnie were planning to get married again. I was surprised that you would even consider it after the things he'd done to you. To forgive may be divine but you're one of the few Catholics I ever met who put that into practice in such a dramatic manner."

Kate laughed a little nervously. Like Daniel, Sandy was not religious. She sent the girls to church but rarely accompanied them. Sandy was of the belief that religion had been used to justify too much hatred and intolerance in the world. When she and Joey had gotten married Kate and Joey's Great Aunt Carol had referred to it as a mixed marriage because of their differing beliefs and refused to attend.

"He did try to make it up to me," Kate replied lamely, not willing to get into the myriad of reasons that she had for saying yes a second time.

"Bull pie," Sandy remarked "You gave him a second chance because that bastard mind tricked you into thinking you owed him."

"Mind tricked me?" Kate was bordering on indignant.

"He's a lawyer Kate," Sandy told her "They are masters of the mind trick. I dated my share of them before I met Joey."

Kate nodded "It wasn't just that I thought I owed him..." she was considering spilling everything to Sandy when her doctor arrived with her discharge instructions.

"You'll need to change the dressing every day and keep the wound clean," he told Kate "And I want to see you in three weeks to take the stitches out."

Kate nodded "Thank you;" she said as she stood up.

"But honestly," Sandy continued as she walked with Kate down the hall "I think it's wonderful. Did you not see how he was looking at you when he sang at the rehearsal dinner. It was like you were the only one in the room. I've never seen Donnie look at you like that."

They reached the door to Daniel's room and stopped "Could you wait out here?" Kate requested of her sister-in-law.

"Sure," Sandy agreed "But if you want to make it to the second service we're gonna have to get moving soon."

Kate smiled, it had been good of Sandy to offer to take her to Father Pat's ten o'clock sermon. Especially since Sandy would have to sit through the sermon in order to drive Kate home afterwards. Though Kate was torn about whether to skip church. A day with Daniel seemed preferable. She was still debating the idea when she entered Daniel's room.

She found him dressed and sitting on his bed. He was getting his discharge instructions from his doctor and driving the doctor up the wall with his flippant attitude.

"Yes, keep my wounds clean to avoid infection and let someone know if there are any strange secretions or foul odors. Those are just injury care basics, you know."

Kate looked over at Max "What's got you so down?" she questioned.

Max sighed "Someone's got to apply antiseptic ointment to Doc's injuries."

"Including the one on my ass," Daniel added with a wry grin "I told Lewicki I'd figure out a way to do it myself but he insisted."

Max groaned and rolled his eyes "You never said you'd try to do it yourself," he corrected.

Daniel shrugged and smiled at Kate "You've been sprung too?"

She nodded "Anything I can do to help?"

"You could tell Doctor Pierce to take his recovery more seriously," the doctor who was in the process of discharging Daniel told her.

Kate chuckled before reaching over and taking the paper that had the discharge instructions on it from the doctor. She looked them over and handed the paper back "I'll make sure he does," she promised.

"You will huh?" there was a hint of mischief in Daniel's eyes.

"Well if Max gets fed up with you," Kate countered, shifting her hips in a subtly flirtatious manner.

"That's a definite possibility," Max huffed, oblivious to the hidden meaning behind the exchange in front of him.

The doctor looked at Daniel and sighed. He looked over at Max "Okay, get him out of here."

Daniel stood up and looked to Kate "Has Joey found Donnie?"

"Sandy got a text from him a little while ago saying he had," Kate assured him.

"That's good," Daniel remarked.

"Did something happen to Donnie?" Max inquired.

"You didn't tell him?" Kate raised an eyebrow at Daniel.

Under her scrutiny Daniel began to fidget slightly "It never came up," he explained.

"Told me what?" Max sounded a little irritated.

"Well, tell him," Kate changed her stance from relaxed to intimidating.

"You might be in over your head here," his younger self had appeared next to Max "What do you do? What do you do?" Daniel glared briefly at the hallucination. "She's getting impatient," his hallucination continued "If you don't do something soon she's gonna start to think last night was a fluke."

"Daniel?" Kate questioned.

"What haven't you told me?" Max hated feeling like a child being purposefully left out of the loop.

"This," Daniel turned and kissed Kate.

The kiss took Kate by surprise but it took her only a fraction of a second to respond in kind.

"Well that took forever," Max declared as he smiled brightly at the couple.

Kate and Daniel separated and stared at Max "You knew?" Daniel sputtered.

"I suspected," Max corrected "Strongly suspected."

"Kate," Sandy stuck her head in "We really should get going."

Kate glanced longingly at Daniel. It was tempting but her duty as a good Catholic was calling her "I'll see you later," she told Daniel.

"Unless you'd like to come to church with us," Sandy smiled warmly at Daniel and Max.

"Sandy," Kate began to exain "Daniel doesn't... observe-"

"She's trying to say I don't believe in God," Daniel interrupted.

"Me neither," Sandy informed him, holding her hand aloft for a fist bump "This family needs another heretic."

Kate smacked Sandy's hand out of the air "Let's get going," she said quickly.

"Maybe I will come along," Daniel announced.

Kate spun to face him and was not able to stop her eyes from rolling or her mouth from uttering "Why?"

Though affronted by her reaction Daniel forged ahead "Your religion is important to you. If we're going to be together then maybe I should make an effort to be more accepting of it as a part of our life."

Kate's hard demeanor melted at his words and she wrapped her arms around him "Thank you Daniel," she whispered "But you don't have to come with us today."

"She has a good point dude," younger him appeared over Kate's shoulder "Don't want to move too fast."

"I want to go with you today," Daniel said decisively.

"Have you heard a word I've said?" Joey asked as he waited in the living room of the apartment for Donnie to change.

"You don't think I'm any good for your sister," Donnie called back "Yeah I heard you, you only said it about fifty times. Anyway it doesn't matter what you think or what I think. I heard her, she loves him. I saw this coming, I did, and I thought I could stop it, make her love me again..."

"That was a stupid plan," Joey observed.

"I know that now!" Donnie shot back bitterly "Doesn't make it hurt less!"

"Are you ready yet?" Joey asked, shifting uncomfortably as he spoke.

"Yeah," Donnie emerged from the bedroom wearing clean clothes "Let's go."

The church parking lot was emptying out after Father Pat's first sermon. The sun reflected brightly off the pavement as the stragglers mingled with the early arrivals for the second sermon. Joe Moretti found himself in a conversation with Father Pat as his granddaughters bragged to their friends about their frilly bridesmaids dresses.

"I was glad to see on the news that Kate and Doctor Pierce were found safe," Father Pat was saying.

"We're all relieved," Joe replied. He had never been Father Pat's biggest fan. Even as a boy Pat had been nosy and quick to judge as well as determined to get his way on everything. Joe was really hoping that an out to this conversation would present itself. He didn't know then but his out would soon present itself in a big way.

"Has Donnie made any decisions about when to reschedule the wedding?" Father Pat questioned.

Why did it have to be Donnie's decision? Another thing about Pat that infuriated Joe Moretti was his seeming lack of respect for women. Was it any wonder he had entered the priesthood? Joe began to earnestly pray for a way out of talking to Father Pat. That way out arrived in the passenger's seat of his son's car and in the back seat of his daughter-in-law's car.

"Why don't you ask him yourself," Joe pointed to Donnie getting out of Joey's car.

Before Father Pat could get Donnie's attention Kate and Daniel clambered out of the back seat of Sandy's car. Across the parking lot Sandy and Joey locked gazes.

"Oh Shit," they mouthed in unison.


	10. Chapter 9: Confrontation

**Alternate**

**Chapter 9: Confrontation**

**A/N: I took a bit of a writing break to read DaisyDay's story "Letters" if you haven't read it I highly recommend it. It takes place in season 1 so there's no Donnie to get in the way which is something I wish I knew how to do. **

**Dedication: To my absolutely amazing reviewers: Wolfhound159 who exchanges wonderful PMs with me. ChristyLoisGilmore17 who asks all the right questions and whose reviews make me smile. megspazzy who I've learned was my mystery reviewer from last chapter and who always makes me laugh. And the always spectacular DaisyDay who put up with me submitting a review to each and every one of the sixteen chapters of "Letters" and who is also a charming conversationalist. All of you are so kind and wonderful. This story would be nowhere without your** **encouragement.**

Max had just parked the car. He was reaching for the door handle when he spotted Donnie. His hand froze in midair as in his mind he debated his next move. Would he be of more use standing by his friends' side or should he stay in the car and out of the way? Ultimately he opened the door and jogged to where Daniel and Kate were standing.

Donnie, Kate and Daniel seemed to have attracted the attention of most of the people who had been milling about in front of the church. Though most were unaware of the shift in Daniel and Kate's relationship, all but the very youngest of parishioners could sense the tension between the three as they stood and stared across the fifteen or so feet of blacktop that separated them.

"I thought you were just gonna get him some coffee," Sandy whispered as Joey made his way over to her.

"I did," Joey explained, his voice equally hushed "But after that he wanted me to take him to church. I didn't think Kate would be discharged in time to make it to the second service."

"Well this can only end badly," Sandy observed, still whispering.

"Why is Doctor Pierce here anyway?" Joey looked from his sister to Donnie to the doctor.

"He's making an effort to be more accepting of religion being a part of Kate's life," Sandy explained "It seems Doctor Pierce would not have been approved of by your Great Aunt Carol either."

"She's been dead for almost four years," Joey remarked, his voice still quiet as he kept his gaze focussed on his sister and her two suitors "Let it go."

Sandy turned and swatted her husband's arm hard.

Donnie wasn't sure what to do. Seeing Kate and Daniel again made him feel like he'd had his heart ripped out all over again. Anger raged inside him. He wanted to punch one or both of them. He wanted to scream obscenities at the top of his lungs. He wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. However none of these were particularly wise options.

Though he wasn't fully sobered up, he knew that he should try to avoid making a scene if he could. If he tried to attack Daniel it would be less than a second before Kate would lay him out on his ass. The mere fact that the thought of punching Kate had flickered through his head made him ill. He had been raised better than that.

He could scream and yell until he was blue in the face but all that would accomplish would be to make him look like the biggest ass in the world in front of an ever growing crowd of onlookers, including by now at least a dozen children. The curling up in a ball and crying seemed like the best option but he knew there were things he needed to discuss with Kate first. He inhaled deeply and took a step forward. He knew what he had to do. It was painful to even think about but what he and Kate had had was over. All that remained was to say it out loud.

As Donnie began to close the gap that separated them Kate grabbed Daniel's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze which he readily returned. Daniel was mentally preparing to receive a punch, the face, the gut, he wasn't sure which Donnie would choose but he was fairly certain that Donnie was likely to get one shot in before Kate stopped him.

Donnie stopped a few feet away from them "Hi Kate, Daniel," he greeted in a voice choked with emotion.

"Donnie," Kate's tone was soft, filled with pity and regret "You look like Hell."

Donnie forced a chuckle. A change of clothes had not erased the obvious signs that he'd been drinking heavily "You always no just what to say," he remarked.

Silence fell over the three of them. They had not noticed how the assembled crowd in the parking lot had crowded in closer. Among them, Father Pat and Joe Moretti who stood near the front of the pack. Most of the children had retreated to the church steps, distracted by smart phones and tablets that their parents had wisely handed over. There were murmurings among the group, some wondering what would happen next while others expounded upon the events that had lead to this tense confrontation.

Donnie glanced briefly at Daniel and couldn't help chuckling "I'm not gonna punch you Daniel," he assured.

"I feel like that's the sort of thing you might say before you punched me," Daniel replied, continuing to bock his abdominal with his free arm.

"Donnie," Kate began, withdrawing something from her pocket "I'm sorry you found out the way you did," she handed him her engagement ring.

"I get it," Donnie took the ring and put it in his own pocket "I really do understand Kate," he turned to Daniel "You really love her?" he asked pointedly.

Daniel nodded "Very much," he confirmed, taking a half step closer to Kate.

"Then you'd better not hurt her the way I did," Donnie told him, his eyes misting over a bit "Or I'll do more than punch you."

Daniel nodded, releasing Kate's hand and wrapping his arm around her waist "Understood."

"This really hurts Kate," Donnie stated.

"I know it does and I'm sorry but it would have been wrong for us to get married again."

Donnie nodded "I know. And I'm sorry. When I first got back to Chicago and I saw the way you would look at Daniel I was jealous. I felt like I had to do something or I'd lose you. I just couldn't accept the reality that you were never really mine to begin with. I did some things and said some things I deeply regret," he turned to Daniel "I was unfair to you too."

Daniel shrugged, remembering some of the things Donnie had said and done back when he'd first met him. Of course in most cases Daniel had landed his own low blows. He offered Donnie a smile "Water under the bridge..."

"I'll be out of the apartment by this afternoon," Donnie told Kate.

It was at this point that a loud burst of laughter erupted from the group of a dozen or so children on the church steps. Several kids pointed to Donnie. One of the children, Donnie's nephew Noah, got up and ran straight through the crowd of adults to his uncle. He was holding his mother's cell phone high above his head "Uncle Donnie!" the seven-year-old called.

Donnie took the phone and glanced at the video that was playing on the screen. The string of words that escaped his lips were not something his young nephew should have been privy to.

"He's down for the count," Joey informed the others as he stepped out of the bedroom and into the main area of the apartment.

Kate, Daniel, Max and Sandy were sitting around Sandy's iPad, attempting to anylize the video of a fall-down-drunk Donnie basically being a public nuisance.

"This guy's an Assistant US Attorney," a voice from off screen laughed raucously. Donnie fell down at the entrance to the park where Joey had found him and vomited.

"Dumbass," someone else off-camera added.

Someone dressed in black appeared in frame and hauled Donnie to his feet and dragged him into the park.

Other ridiculous antics followed, including Donnie lying underneath a park bench, muttering something incoherent to the bench as if it could understand him, Donnie shadow boxing with and losing to a low hanging tree branch and Donnie peeing in the sandbox. At every turn he was goaded by the two off-camera voices.

The ending of the video was very peculiar. It ended on a black screen on which in glaring white letters were the words "His Grasp Far Exceeds Your Reach" accompanied by a few bars of Moonlight Sonata.

"Poor Donnie," Daniel turned to see his younger self squatting between him and Kate. It didn't surprise Daniel that his hallucination felt sympathy for Donnie. Daniel himself couldn't help feeling bad for the other man.

Before he'd gone to bed, Donnie had sworn up and down that he hadn't recognized the voices on the video and that he remembered none of the things that had apparently transpired between his passing out behind the wheel of his car and waking up in the park. It was obvious that the people who had made the video had at least some passing familiarity with who Donnie was. But the video offered no clues as to their true identities.

Kate sighed heavily and rubbed her eyes. She turned to Daniel "You're sure it's okay if I stay with you tonight?" she asked.

Daniel wanted to tell her that it was okay with him if she stayed with him forever but he decided to take a more cautious approach to this as yet uncharted territory "Of course," he offered her a warm smile. Kate returned his smile and Daniel felt a warm feeling building inside him. It was a feeling he'd gotten used to recently, a feeling only Kate could inspire in him.

Kate was ashamed to admit that Daniel's smile made her feel a little weak kneed, it almost always had. He smiled so rarely that when he did it was like her own personal ray of sunshine. His smile had had this sort of profound affect on her since the first time she'd caught a glimpse of it as a college student.

"Well," Sandy was saying to Joey as she put the iPad away and stood up "We'd better go rescue your dad from the girls."

Joey nodded "Kate," he turned to address his sister "No more late night calls asking me to babysit your ex, okay."

Kate shrugged "But you're so good at it," she grinned as she gave her brother a hug goodbye.

At this point Donnie meandered out of the bedroom "What's this about me needing a babysitter?" he questioned Kate.

"Someone should obviously be watching you to keep you from doing stupid shit," Joey told him.

"Considering the circumstances," Donnie looked pointedly at Kate and Daniel "I feel like I had the right to act a little stupid."

"A little stupid," Joey countered with a derisive snort "That's like saying Chicago is a little windy."

"You know what?" Donnie glared at Joey.

"I know it's only a matter of time before your boss sees that video and you're under investigation for your behavior," Joey countered.

Donnie punched him in the face.

And the next thing anyone knew all Hell broke loose. Joey exploded in a fury of flailing fists at Donnie. Donnie responded with a few more punches of his own as well as a kick to Joey's left shin. Daniel, Max and Sandy stared in shock at the sudden eruption of violence. Daniel couldn't help thinking this was somewhat like how he had expected the confrontation in the church parking lot to have gone.

As he was thinking this he caught sight of a blur of long brown hair as Kate attempted to position herself between the two combatants and was promptly attacked by both before they had even realized it. She fell to the floor and the other three bystanders jumped into action. Sandy wrapped her arms around Joey from behind while Max jumped on Donnie.

Daniel knelt by Kate and gently gathered her into his arms "You alright?" he asked as he looked her over.

"I think so," she replied though her lower lip was split and bleeding quite profusely and there was a bruise already forming on the right side of her jaw.

"What the Hell is wrong with the two of you?!" Daniel shouted at Joey and Donnie as he helped Kate to her feet.

The fight had gone out of both men as they watched Daniel protectively guide Kate towards the kitchen. Donnie hung his head, not making the slightest effort to break free of Max's grasp. Joey shook Sandy off and went to sit on the couch. Sandy moved into the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit for Daniel.

Daniel began cleaning the blood that poured from Kate's lower lip. From the first aid kit that Sandy brought him he retrieved a wad of gauze and instructed Kate to apply pressure. He then went to the freezer and found an ice pack for her jaw.

"You're sure you're alright?" he asked as he held the ice pack for her, with his other hand he brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face "You don't feel dizzy or nauseous? Were you hit anywhere else? What about when you fell did you-?"

"Daniel," she cut him off, the hand that wasn't holding the gauze to her lip reaching out and touching his face "I'm fine, a little stunned but other than that I feel fine."

Daniel nodded but inside he knew he'd be watching her carefully for signs of concussion for the rest of the day.

In spite of the ice pack the bruise on Kate's jaw darkened and swelled significantly. Eventually Kate and Daniel emerged from the kitchen to discover that Donnie had slunk away. Kate grabbed the overnight bag she had packed after deciding that she would allow Donnie to stay in the apartment a couple more days while they waited to see if this video thing would blow over.

"Sorry Kate," Joey murmured as he hugged her again.

"You're just lucky we're not kids anymore," she told him with a half smile.

Joey seemed to shudder a bit as he and Sandy headed for their cars.

The drive to Daniel's house went by quickly. When they arrived Max disappeared upstairs to his studies leaving Kate and Daniel alone in the living room. They sat side by side just gazing at each other.

"Make a move man," Daniel rolled his eyes at his hallucination before returning his attention to Kate "Come on man, don't just sit there like an idiot," his younger self egged him on "Kiss her!"


	11. Chapter 10: Parcel

**Alternate**

**Chapter 10: Parcel **

**A/N: here we are, another chapter. Hope I don't throw you all for a loop but I feel like this story will go on a lot longer than I thought a few chapters ago. Let me know what you think by reviewing. I don't wanna sound desperate but I live for reviews. **

**Dedication: To my wonderful loyal reviewers: Wolfhound159, DaisyDay, megspazzy and ChristyLoisGilmore17 thanks for sticking with me. **

Kate watched as Daniel carried on a silent argument with an invisible opponent. She slid closer to him on the couch and leaned her head against his shoulder. Almost automatically his arm came up to wrap around her. They both reveled in how right their closeness felt. Kate smiled contentedly.

"Are you sure you feel alright?" Daniel inquired as he shifted on the couch so that he was lying down with Kate on top of him.

"I feel fine," she assured him, raising her head to look at him "Stop worrying."

"You realize that's practically an impossibility for me, right?" he told her as the ghost of a grin played across his face.

She laughed and brought her lips to meet his in a chaste kiss "Is there anything I can do to put your mind at ease?"

Her voice was teasing, the mischievous look in her eyes tempting. Daniel found himself unable to resist kissing her. The kiss turned deep and passionate quickly as their tongues eagerly explored. Eventually they reluctantly came up for air. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. Years worth of unspoken words and un-acted upon fantasies had become unbridled desire.

Still panting heavily they repositioned themselves on the couch so that Daniel was supporting himself on his elbows above her. Their lips met again. Daniel broke the kiss much quicker this time and began trailing kisses along her jawline. When he reached her earlobe he nipped at it playfully.

This elicited a surprised but not in the least bit displeased gasp from Kate. Daniel continued his trail of kisses down to her collar bone. Her hands lost themselves in his hair and she moaned impatiently, wanting him. It was at this crucial moment that the doorbell rang.

"Really?" Kate groaned in aggravation.

"Maybe they'll go away?" Daniel suggested hopefully.

"Yeah and we continue what we're doing here and at some point Max comes downstairs and catches us, mid-act and we break his brain," Kate pointed out, feeling a little foolish for having let things get as far as they had. She reluctantly sat up.

"Alright but you have to answer the door," Daniel replied, retreating to the far corner of the couch.

"Why's that?" Kate inquired.

Daniel looked incredibly sheepish "Take a wild guess Kate," he told her in a tone that was part sarcastic, part humiliated.

Kate noticed the way he had positioned his body in order to conceal his current predicament and chuckled. She leaned in and whispered something in his ear.

"Why?" Daniel stared at her with a mixture of shock and revulsion "That's just..."

"It worked didn't it?" she smirked.

"Well yes..." Daniel admitted "But the mental image may never leave me. That was unnecessarily evil. A few more minutes of baseball stats would have accomplished the same thing."

Kate laughed as she went to answer the door "I'll make it up to you," she promised.

Daniel straightened himself on the couch and wondered just how she was going to make up for implanting that particular disturbing image in his mind. He sighed as his thoughts returned to the way Kate had looked at him in those moments before the door bell had interrupted them. He soon realized he shouldn't think too hard about that or he'd be in need of an incredibly cold shower. So maybe it didn't take much for him to put Kate's erection curing imagery out of his mind after all.

"She might just be too much for you to handle," the younger him had reappeared sitting on the couch beside Daniel and smiling broadly.

"You have worse timing than whoever's at the door," Daniel deadpanned.

"Hey, I didn't interrupt you just as you were about to start tearing each other's clothes off," his hallucination said defensively.

"We weren't... it wasn't like... tearing is a strong word..." Daniel was totally flustered.

His younger self threw his head back and let out a long, hearty laugh "Dude do you hear yourself? You are talking to you, not just in the sense that the person you are talking to isn't real but that you are hallucinating another version of yourself, a version of yourself who knows exactly how you make love. I perfected our techniques, remember?"

Daniel rolled his eyes "I wouldn't say you perfected them," he remarked, a bit smugly.

"I at least laid the framework," his hallucination appeared offended.

Daniel was about to say something else to his hallucination about what truly shaky framework it had been but that was the moment that Kate returned. In her hands she held a brown cardboard box. Her face bore a perplexed expression.

"What's that?" Daniel indicated the box as she set it on the coffee table.

"Not sure," she replied "It's addressed to you. I asked the kid who delivered it about it and he said someone paid him fifty bucks to bring it here. I tried to get him to answer some other questions but he jumped on his bike and sped off," she sat beside Daniel on the couch and joined him in staring at the seemingly innocuous parcel.

"It's probably not a bomb if it was sent by bike," Daniel observed "Too much risk of the device being accidentally triggered..."

Kate scooted closer to him and took one of his hands "I think recent events might have us overthinking this," she suggested.

Daniel nodded but upon closer inspection of the box something peculiar caught his attention. "If this package is all that innocent why does the label only give its destination, no mention of who it's from, not even a label from the currier service that was used."

"I'm not sure that kid worked for a currier service," she observed.

The pair continued to observe the package. Minutes passed in silence. Finally Kate reached for the package "We're getting ourselves worked up over nothing," she smiled reassuringly at Daniel "It's probably some sort of token gift from one of your students who heard about the kidnapping on the news."

Daniel placed his hand over hers as she began to peel back the label "Do you really believe that?" he questioned, half teasingly.

She didn't look at him when she answered "It's certainly the most innocent explanation I can think of," she admitted.

He found it within himself to offer her a soft smile "There are probably a dozen innocent explanations for what this is," he reasoned, though his hand remained covering hers.

Kate placed the mystery package back on the coffee table and leaned her head against Daniel's shoulder. She had to admit to herself that she was on high alert. After what Daniel had gone through while they'd been at Tasha's mercy she wanted to do anything and everything to protect him. Perhaps she was seeing danger where there was none.

"I think my paranoia is rubbing off on you," Daniel remarked teasingly.

"Maybe," Kate replied half jokingly. There was the possibility that this was something to be paranoid about.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel reached for the package and tore it open before he could change his mind. Upon seeing what was inside he dropped the box as if it had caused him physical pain. He immediately wrapped his arms around Kate and held her tight. His breathing had become slightly ragged.

"Daniel, what is it?" her voice was overflowing with concern as she wrapped her arms around him and began to stroke his hair and back soothingly "What's wrong?" she implored.

He had begun to tremble slightly, mostly from fear but what he'd seen in the box had also angered him. He wished he hadn't seen it and part of him hoped it was a hallucination. Though he was fairly certain he, even at his worst, would never hallucinate that.

Eventually after a minute or so of being held by Kate and holding onto her for dear life, he was able to speak "I don't think it's from one of my students."

Kate gradually released her hold on Daniel and reached for the fallen package. She retrieved it and stared at its contents in horrified disbelief "Oh my God," she murmured.

Staring back at her was a doll with brown eyes and long straight brown hair. The implication that the doll was representative of her was clear. But the doll's passing resemblance to Kate was not what had frightened Daniel so badly. The doll had not a stitch of clothing and its body had been horribly mutilated.

Tucked against one of the sides of the box was a folded piece of paper. Kate withdrew it and stared at the typed words on the page. Aloud she read "His Grasp Far Exceeds Your Reach."

She and Daniel locked eyes. They both recognized the words from the video of Donnie. They had seemed puzzling then but now it was clear that they were a threat.

FBI agents filled Daniel's house. Daniel and Kate had given their statements and the package and note had been spirited away to the lab to be run for fingerprints and other clues. Parsons had arrived and informed Kate that she would not be investigating this case. Kate did not take too kindly to that news but Parsons would not back down.

"Not only does this appear to be a direct threat against you," the director explained "But you were just released from the hospital today after being kidnapped and shot yesterday," Parsons groaned, realizing he was pointing out the obvious to a grown woman "You already took vacation time for the next two weeks. So no you aren't on this case."

Kate was about to object when she caught sight of Daniel out of the corner of her eye. He was watching her with concern. She reached over and took his hand. There was something in the way he grasped her hand that made her consent to Parsons "But I want to be kept in the loop," she stipulated.

Parsons agreed to her terms and was about to leave but he turned back, having picked up on the subtle change between the two "I'm going to leave a couple agents outside to watch the place," he informed them with a soft smile.

Neither Kate nor Daniel objected. As the agents cleared out, leaving them alone Kate gathered Daniel in her arms. He reciprocated the hug with fervor. They stood like that for a long moment before Max stuck his head in from the kitchen.

"Tea anyone?" he offered.

Kate turned and smiled gratefully "Thanks Max," a hot beverage seemed like just the thing to relax her nerves. She and Daniel made their way into the kitchen to find two steaming mugs of tea already waiting for them on the kitchen table.

"I don't know about you guys but I've had more than my fair share of excitement for today," Max remarked as he joined them with his own cup of tea in hand.

"That's for sure," Kate commented as she took a sip of her drink.

Daniel just nodded. Every time he closed his eyes he saw that damn doll. The implied threat against Kate was stomach churning. For the life of him he was trying to be strong, to pull himself together but he couldn't help being terrified.

Kate watched Daniel carefully. She could tell he was scared. She was scared too but this wasn't the first time she'd been threatened. But aside from being scared Kate found herself incredibly pissed off. Whoever had sent that package had addressed it to Daniel and probably didn't know that she was there too. The primary intent of that package had been to upset Daniel. This infuriated Kate to no end.

Someone had decided to mess with Daniel's head. It was a truly cruel thing to do to someone without a mental illness but to prey on someone as prone to paranoia as Daniel was just vindictive. Kate knew that when they found the bastard someone would have to hold her back from beating him into a coma.

"Well..." Max intoned, somewhat awkwardly, as he finished the last of his tea "I should get back to studying," he got up from the table and placed his mug in the sink before beating a hasty retreat. He felt a little like a third wheel at the moment.

Max's departure didn't do anything to make Daniel more talkative. He split his attention between Kate and his as yet untouched mug.

Kate reached out and laid her hand on Daniel's shoulder "Hey," she smile encouragingly "Don't worry."

This made Daniel laugh derisively "Easy for you to say," he said without thinking.

"Actually it's not," she corrected as her hand slid from Daniel's shoulder "It isn't easy to say that after seeing a doll that's been mutilated like that that bares a strong resemblance to you but it's not the first time someone's threatened my life."

Daniel eyed her curiously. He was unaware that Kate had been threatened in such a manner before. "You've been through this kind of thing before?" and here he thought he knew most everything about Kate Moretti.

She sighed heavily. She had hoped she wouldn't have to tell anyone about this. Not even Donnie knew the specifics of the case that had gotten her sent back to Chicago. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them again she saw Daniel watching her, his gaze brimming with love and compassion.

She began "It was a little over three years ago in D. C. Donnie and I were separated and a serial murder case had just landed on my desk..."


	12. Chapter 11: Together

**Alternate**

**Chapter 11: Together**

**A/N: Heads up, the end of this chapter crosses into am territory. Consider yourselves warned. **

**Dedication: Wolfhound159, ChristyLoisGilmore17, megspazzy and DaisyDay this story would be an abandoned prologue without you. **

"Five women in the DC area had been stalked and murdered," Kate explained "We had several suspects that looked good for the killings. The mail man who delivered to three of the victims' residences and was the neighbor of another; a plumber who had been in at least two of the victims' homes within a month before they were killed; the son of the landlord who owned four of the buildings where the victims lived and a violent ex boyfriend of the second victim."

"How did the ex boyfriend connect to the other four victims?" Daniel asked, his interest in the mystery getting the better of him.

"He didn't," Kate replied "Believe me we tried to connect him to the other four."

"We...?"

"Me and my partner in DC Felix Declan," she clarified.

"Just to be clear, Felix is-"

"Yes Daniel, he was a man," Kate almost giggled at the look on Daniel's face.

"Just checking..." Daniel finally took a sip of his lukewarm tea.

"And no I wasn't attracted to him," Kate stated, anticipating Daniel's next question.

"I wasn't wondering-"

"Yes you were," Kate and younger Daniel said almost in unison. Daniel's hallucination had appeared in the seat Max had been occupying earlier.

Daniel cleared his throat "So you were investigating this series of murders?"

"Right," Kate quickly got back on track "We knew that the killer had used specialized photography equipment to take photos of his victims from great distances so we also tried to narrow our search that way."

"And...?" Daniel prompted when Kate fell silent.

"We kept coming up empty," Kate sighed. She inhaled deeply once more as she prepared to tell the next part of her story "Then one morning I opened my door and found a manila envelope full of pictures... Of me... That was the killers MO, he'd share the pictures he took of his intended victims with them so they knew..."

Daniel reached for her in an effort to offer her comfort and support. She shrugged off his touch and plowed ahead with her tale. Daniel retreated and took a huge gulp of his quickly cooling tea in an effort to hide the hurt on his face.

For a fraction of a second Kate considered ending her story there. Just thinking about the intimate nature of some of those photos made her feel violated all over again. But she had started and she might as well finish "Naturally my boss pulled me off the case and assigned an agent to watch me. And of course I wasn't happy about that. So I kept investigating on the side..."

Daniel finished his tea and placed his and Kate's mugs in the sink "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with how you ended up back in Chicago?" he asked as he sat back down.

"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a contributing factor," she answered evasively. She didn't really feel like explaining how she'd slipped her protective detail and gone snooping at the landlord's place without a warrant or how after her snooping but before she and her detail had found each other again, someone had come up behind her on a secluded side street and attempted to accost her. And how that close call had led her to later chase down the landlord's son at a bar and punch him in the face.

In the end being sent back to Chicago had been the best option she'd faced. And, she realized as she looked over at Daniel, it had ended up being the best thing that could have ever happened to her. She stood up and reached for one of Daniel's hands, drawing him to his feet beside her.

"So yeah, I've been through this kind of thing before. It isn't easy but it helps to not be alone."

Daniel wrapped an arm around her as they made there way to the living room "Who was there for you in DC?" he wanted to know.

She shook her head as she tucked herself against his side on the couch "No one actually. Like I said Donnie and I were separated and I had started divorce proceedings. The only other person I had been close to in DC was the woman Donnie had cheated on me with..." she trailed off and nuzzled against Daniel's neck.

Daniel picked up on her not-so-subtle cues that she wanted to change the topic of conversation and though he still had several questions he was itching to ask her, he obliged "So it was quite the interesting coincidence that Father Pat's sermon was about fidelity," he remarked.

"Don't get me started," Kate grumbled "I feel like I'm gonna have to deal out some school yard justice the next time I see him."

Daniel chuckled "I get the feeling a lot of people at your church don't like me."

"Do you think I give a flying fuck what any of them think?" Kate asked, pulling away so she could look at Daniel.

Daniel grinned at her. He had hoped she didn't care about the overwhelming disapproving vibe they'd received upon the conclusion of their run in with Donnie in the parking lot. Though throughout the sermon Donnie's attention had been mostly on the video of himself that had become so popular online, most everyone else had been watching and gossiping about Kate and Daniel.

"Maybe I won't make a habit of coming to church with you," he decided.

"Maybe I need to make a habit of skipping church every once in a while," Kate noted "Father Pat can be a bit of a judgmental prick. And the rest of them... At least my family likes you," she caressed his cheek "But even if they didn't, the only thing that matters is that I love you," she assured.

"I love you," he kissed her tenderly.

Donnie was moping. He had heard from his boss: there would be an investigation but for the time being he would not be suspended. He had heard from Parsons as well. Some sort of threat against Kate had come to light that appeared to be connected to the video. An agent would soon be arriving to shadow Donnie.

Aside from these new developments Donnie was still devastated by his breakup with Kate and even more devastated by the fight that had ended in her being hurt. It was painfully obvious that he was no good for her. While he had just been staring in disbelief, Daniel had been by her side, making sure she was okay.

He truly had been unfair to Daniel in the weeks and months following his return to Chicago. He had once upon a time been quite ignorant about schizophrenia, believing those with the diagnosis were all dangerous individuals. Through knowing Daniel and through a great deal of research he had undertaken when it became clear he would have no success talking Kate out of her association with Daniel, he had learned better.

It stung that it was over between him and Kate but he was glad she was happy. He had tried so hard to put himself between the two, in hindsight his behavior was borderline nauseating. And proposing to her in Paris was just cruel. To have said no to him there Kate Moretti would have to be a stone hearted bitch.

There was a knock at the door. Donnie got up to answer it and found a woman with curly auburn hair and a no nonsense expression on her face "You AUSA Ryan?" she asked.

Donnie nodded "Until further notice anyway," he quipped.

The woman showed him her badge "Agent Samantha Ulrich," she introduced "Director Parsons assigned me to shadow you."

Donnie stepped aside to let her enter "Nice to meet you," he said politely. Then as Agent Ulrich took a seat on the couch he added "When Parsons said he was going to assign an agent to watch me I assumed that they'd be watching me from a car out front."

"In case you haven't notice Mr. Ryan, people come and go from your apartment complex at all hours. I can do my job much better if I keep an eye on you from inside the apartment."

"If you say so," Donnie muttered, taking a seat on the other end of the couch.

A few minutes of silence passed. Finally Donnie cleared his throat awkwardly "I was going to order Chinese food for dinner..."

"I'm not stopping you," Ulrich responded curtly.

"What I meant was... Do you want anything?" Donnie felt hopelessly uncomfortable.

"Hot and sour soup thanks," the agent replied.

Donnie pulled out his phone and dialed the Chinese takeout place. He hoped that he wouldn't be stuck with Agent Ulrich for very long. He wondered if he could talk to Parsons about getting a different agent assigned to him.

When the food showed up Agent Ulrich insisted on answering the door. This baffled the delivery guy "Are you a friend of Kate's?" Ricky O'Reilly inquired.

Donnie appeared in the door beside his FBI shadow "Hey Ricky," he greeted with a congenial smile.

Ricky returned Donnie's smile "I heard about the kidnapping on the news. How's Kate doing? I know it's not much but I snuck in an extra egg roll for her."

Donnie's smile morphed from congenial to wan in an instant "She's fine Ricky but she's not here... we're not together anymore..."

"Jeez, I'm sorry man," Ricky shrugged. He turned and regarded Agent Ulrich again.

"I'm not with him," the agent felt it necessary to say under Ricky's scrutiny.

Ricky grinned "In that case," he withdrew a pen from his pocket and scrawled his number on the takeout menu that was stapled to the bag of food "Call me sometime."

Agent Ulrich surprised Donnie by actually cracking a smile. She withdrew her wallet to pay for the food but Donnie had beaten her to the punch.

"I got this," he said as he handed Ricky the money.

"No I insist-" in her effort to pay her own way she somehow ended up dropping her wallet.

Donnie bent to retrieve it. The billfold had fallen open, revealing a picture of the same little girl Donnie had seen in the park that morning. Donnie handed the wallet back to its owner as questions about his protective detail began to race around his mind.

"So," Donnie began as the two of them sat down to eat "Is Parsons just a total prick making you babysit some scummy federal prosecutor?"

Ulrich actually laughed "I don't know if I'd say 'scuumy', self-important maybe."

"Jeez..." Donnie shot her a wounded look "We've known each other all of forty five minutes and you've already made up your mind about me?"

"I've been working at the Chicago office for over four months," she explained "And while I've never been formally introduced to your ex-wife/fiancé-"

"Ex-fiancé," Donnie corrected.

"Word gets around," Ulrich continued "I've heard enough about you to know that this assignment was going to be taxing at best."

"I'll talk to Parsons tomorrow and see if I can get him to assign me someone else," Donnie shrugged "You're probably resentful that this assignment keeps you away from your kid anyway."

A flicker of sadness passed across Ulrich's face "My kids don't live with me," she explained before falling silent and seeming to focus intently on her food.

Donnie was left with the profound sense that he'd struck a nerve.

"I never knew vegetarian chile could taste so good," Kate remarked as she dug into her second helping.

"I could tell you my secret but then I'd have to kill you," Max teased.

Kate laughed as she reached for her water glass "What if I guess it?" she inquired.

"You can try," Max grinned.

"You'll never guess it," Daniel remarked knowingly.

"Is it bacon grease?" Kate supposed. This guess caused both Max and Daniel to burst into laughter.

"If I did that Doc would kill me," Max hid his face in his hands as he continued to laugh.

"Beans...?" Kate guessed again.

"You can see the beans," Daniel pointed out "It's not much of a secret ingredient if it's staring you right in the face."

Kate laughed "I guess not," she conceded.

Kate kept guessing throughout the rest of the meal. Some guesses were serious but most were ridiculous and caused the three of them to erupt into laughter. In spite of the day's events the atmosphere was easy and relaxed. Though Daniel was still deeply concerned following the doll incident he found Kate's laughter contagious. And some of her more outlandish guesses left him incapable of keeping a straight face.

"Stop squirming," Kate reprimanded as she tried to apply ointment to Daniel's wounds.

"But it's cold," he complained.

"You are a giant baby," Kate bemoaned as with slow gentle fingers she rubbed the ointment onto the dark welts on Daniel's shoulders, back and rear.

Daniel turned his head to watch her. Her eyes were downcast as she worked. She said nothing else as she finished. Daniel pulled up his boxers and pulled a t-shirt over his head before he undertook the task of changing Kate's dressing for her.

To allow him to access the area Kate had removed her shirt. Daniel was left momentarily breathless at the sight of her beautiful bare breast in the soft light cast by his bedside lamp. A handful of times he had allowed himself to fantasize about what she looked like naked. His fantasies had fallen woefully short.

He forced himself to focus on the task at hand by staring down at the assemblage of supplies on the bed. He looked back up and began to peel away the old dressing, revealing where the bullet had grazed her. Gently he cleaned the area around the stitches with rubbing alcohol before affixing a new pad of gauze over the sight with paper tape.

"All set," he assured her in a low whisper which conveyed the desire that the sight of her topless had inspired in him.

She leaned in and kissed him "Thanks," she said as she pulled away.

Daniel gathered her into his arms and together they tumbled to the mattress. He delighted in having her in his arms, at how perfect their bodies fit against one another. He found himself unsure how to proceed or even if he should. Those thoughts completely evaporated when he felt Kate tugging at his boxers.

The last few items of clothing that had restrained them quickly fell away. The two gazed lovingly at each other. Daniel's fingers began to trail up the curves of Kate's inner thighs. He started by inserting one finger inside her, stroking gently, almost reverently. Kate moaned in delight as he added a second finger.

"God you're good with those hands," she sighed happily. In the back of her mind an immature joke about a pianist half formed and made her smile. She rose up off the mattress and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him then took hold of his wrist and withdrew his fingers from inside her "That's enough teasing," she told him as she released his wrist and took hold of his erection, guiding him inside her.

Daniel moved gently inside her at first but his thrusts became more confident and powerful as she began to move with him. He could feel himself drawing close to the edge and from the look on her face he could tell Kate was too. Kate brought her lips crashing against his and screamed into his mouth as she climaxed. Daniel came almost in the same instant. They both collapsed in ecstasy.

Daniel found himself smiling as Kate curled up against him "That was..." He breathed.

"Amazing? Incredible? Mind blowing?" Kate questioned, still riding the high of her orgasm.

"Try all of the above and then some," Daniel chuckled, cupping her cheek with one hand as he leaned in to kiss her.

She returned the kiss and smiled "A million times better than I ever imagined."

"You've given some thought to this," Daniel raised an eyebrow teasingly.

"So what if I have?" she countered, nuzzling against his neck.

Daniel lovingly kissed the crown of her head "Just curious," he murmured.

The pair drifted off in each other's arms. Just before he fell asleep Daniel caught sight of his younger self in the corner of the room flashing him two thumbs up.


	13. Chapter 12: Apart

**Alternate**

**Chapter 12: Apart**

**A/N: This one took a while to finish. Ran up against a writer's block wall and quite frankly was being greedy and hoping for more review...**

**Dedication: To my amazing reviewers Wolfhound159, DaisyDay and megspazzy. **

Daniel awoke early the next morning to find Kate still nestled against him. He smiled softly as he attempted to untangle himself from her without disrupting her sleep. His best efforts were in vain however.

Kate's eyelids fluttered as a contented moan escaped her slightly parted lips "Good morning," she greeted with a smile.

"Good morning," Daniel returned the greeting before kissing her.

Kate attempted to deepen the kiss but was disappointed when Daniel pulled away "Where do you think you're going?" she questioned, her tone equal parts playful and seductive. She wrapped her legs around his and attempted to hold him there.

Daniel's body reacted immediately to her "Kate," he exhaled. He wanted so badly to stay there in bed with her, to spend the entire day romping amidst the covers with her, exploring each other's bodies with reckless abandon but he couldn't. He made a more concerted effort to separate himself from her.

She sat up with him, the sheets falling away and exposing her once again in all her nude glory "What's the rush?" she legitimately wanted to know.

"It's Monday," he reminded her "I have three lectures today. The first one starts at eight thirty."

Kate groaned "Enjoy that," she muttered as she too started to get out of bad.

"Where do you think you're going?" it was Daniel's turn to inquire.

"I'm getting up," Kate replied.

"You don't have to," Daniel assured her "Go back to sleep, enjoy your time off."

She smiled as she sat on the edge of the bed beside him "I'm not gonna lie in bed by myself," she noted.

"You really should rest," he informed her "You were shot."

"The bullet only grazed me," Kate leaned into him and gently laid her hand on his cheek "I feel fine. Besides, you're the one who was beaten nearly within an inch of his life and you're planning on taking on a full class load."

"I wasn't beaten 'nearly within an inch of my life'," Daniel attempted to shrug off her concern "I feel fine too. Just a bit sore."

Kate looked away briefly. She still felt overwhelming guilt that Daniel had been hurt and there'd been nothing she could do to prevent it.

Daniel embraced her "You know," he offered "I am free for lunch today. Why don't you show up at my office at twelve thirty?"

"Sounds great," she kissed him before standing to retrieve her clothes from the floor.

"What are your plans for today Kate?" Max questioned at breakfast.

Kate stirred her bowl of cream of wheat thoughtfully "I'm not exactly sure," she admitted "I'll probably swing by Headquarters and see if evidence has gotten everything they need from my cell phone before I meet up with Daniel for lunch."

"You're going to the office?" Daniel inquired "Shouldn't you be taking it easy?"

"I'm just going to pick up my phone," Kate assured him "I'm not gonna do much else."

"Much...?" Daniel glanced up from his crossword puzzle and affixed her with a skeptical look "Uh-huh..."

"Well as long as I'm there I might as well say hi to a few coworkers," she smiled impishly.

Daniel sighed "You'll fill me in on whatever you find out, right?"

"Of course I will," Kate promised.

Daniel returned his attention to the crossword. He really would feel better if Kate took some time to rest instead of poking around in an investigation she'd already been told she was not investigating. But he knew there was no stopping her besides he too was curious to know what if anything the FBI had uncovered about their disturbing mystery package.

"Oh before I forget," Max pulled something from his pocket and slid it across the table to Daniel.

Daniel reached for the object and scowled "Why are you giving me your cell phone?"

"That one's yours," Max explained "Brand new, fully charged and ready to go."

Daniel slid the device back across to Max "No." he said simply.

Max was unfazed "Yes," he replied as he slid the cell phone back.

Daniel glared first at Max, then at the device, then back at Max again "Lewicki," he groaned in exasperation.

"Doc, take the phone," Max's tone was all business.

"I will do no such thing," Daniel countered, the intonation of his words bordering on furious.

Max stood up from the table. The expression on his face a mix of frustration and worry. When he spoke his words were carefully measured "Either take the cell phone or I'm having you microchipped like a pet."

Daniel stared daggers at Max "What the Hell's wrong with you?" he demanded.

"Like you care," Max finally exploded, turning from the table and heading for the front door "I'll be in the car," he muttered.

Kate, who had sat quietly, transfixed by the interaction, got to her feet "I'll go talk to him," she told Daniel as she hurried after Max.

"You really don't have to do that..." Daniel called meekly after her.

"Poor guy," young Daniel appeared in an empty chair "Something's obviously eating at him."

Daniel nodded as he stared at the cell phone "I hate the idea of these things," he murmured "Anyone can find you if they have a mind to."

"Anyone, anyone?" his hallucination inquired.

"FBI, CIA, anyone," Daniel confirmed.

"But if anyone can find you," his younger self hypothesized "That means the people who care about you can find you too."

"Damnit," Daniel muttered as something occurred to him. He grabbed the phone off the table and got up.

Kate had caught up with Max just outside the front door "Hey," she reached out and placed her hand on Max's forearm "What's going on?"

Max brushed off her touch "Nothing," he lied.

"Don't lie right to my face Max," Kate warned.

Max sighed heavily but said nothing, stepping past her.

Kate watched as the young man opened the driver's side door of his car and got in, leaning back in the seat and massaging the bridge of his nose. She walked over and leaned against the side of the car "Spill it," she commanded.

Max sighed "On Saturday," he began "I just accepted that he'd disappeared. I didn't even get really worried until hours later..."

Kate knelt down by the open driver's side door "You aren't responsible for anything that happened Max," she assured him.

He looked away from her "But if-"

"Stop thinking about the ifs," she told him.

"Lewicki!" Daniel called from the doorway.

Max took a deep breath "I'm being summoned," he cracked a tiny grin as he got out of the car. "What is it?" he sighed as he walked over to Daniel.

"You think you could teach me how to use this damn thing?" Daniel indicated the phone.

Max smiled "Really?" he asked, a little disbelievingly.

"Are you going to help me or not?" Daniel demanded impatiently.

"Yeah," Max's smile widened "I'll help you."

Kate smirked when she observed Daniel pat Max on the shoulder as the two men headed back inside. Men and their roundabout way of dealing with their emotions towards one another...

After a quick tutorial Daniel could use the device with something that resembled ease. Max had headed back out to the car, leaving Daniel and Kate alone in the front hall. Kate pulled Daniel into a tight hug.

"See you at lunch," she gave him a quick kiss.

"See you then," he kissed her again.

She smiled "I'm glad you're giving this cell phone thing a try," she told him.

Daniel shrugged "I figure after a week Lewicki will relax and I can chuck the thing."

Kate sighed but continued to smile at him "That figures."

"I'm sure a week or two without a kidnapping around here will make everyone feel more at ease," Daniel said, half jokingly.

Kate pulled him back into a hug "Take it easy today," she advised.

"I could say the same thing to you," he pulled back just far enough to shoot her a concerned look "Promise me you're just stopping by the office? You're not going to go kicking down doors, chasing suspects or jumping off any second story balconies?"

Kate couldn't help smiling at the memory "I promise," she told him, then as he pulled away she added "But you said nothing about third story balconies."

"Kate," he groaned.

Kate couldn't help giggling at the expression on his face. She leaned in and kissed him once more "No balcony jumping, I swear." Then as he was about to exit the house she added with a wicked grin "But fire escapes are perfectly fine, right?"

This time Daniel laughed "Goodbye Kate. I love you."

"I love you," she replied as she watched him walk to the car. He paused before sliding into the passenger's seat to wave at her. She returned the wave with a soft smile. As the car disappeared down the street she realized she already missed him.

She decided she might as well get to the office, focussing on the case would give her something to keep her mind occupied until it was time to meet Daniel for lunch. She marched herself up to the car where the agents who had been watching the house were enjoying their morning coffee and tapped on the window. She smiled politely at the agent as he rolled the window down "Can I get a ride?"

"Pizza tonight?" Sandy asked Joey over the phone as she walked through the halls of the DA's offices with a box of files destined for Donnie Ryan's desk. There had been far too many takeout dinners in their household of late but with Sandy and Joey's busy work schedules and the girls' picky eating habits it seemed like the easiest solution most nights.

"Sounds good," Joey replied "I'll try to be home on time."

"I'll talk to you later," Sandy told him as she neared Donnie's office.

"Okay, love you," Joey said as way of goodbye.

"Love you too," Sandy hung up, shifting the box of files briefly to one side as she pocketed her cell phone.

Donnie too had just got off the phone when Sandy entered the office. She could tell by the expression on his face that it hadn't been a pleasant conversation. He looked over at her and attempted to smile "Those the files I asked for?" he inquired.

"Yep," Sandy plopped the box on his desk "Everything I could get you about any and all guards that might have interacted with Rosenthal during his time in custody."

"Wonderful," Donnie reached for the box "So how's Joey?" he asked a bit awkwardly.

Sandy smiled reassuringly "Feeling like a big dope."

"Have you heard from Kate?" Donnie prodded.

"You're full of questions today," Sandy remarked "We've worked in the same office for almost two years and this is the most you've spoken to me in all that time."

Donnie looked away, knowing it was true. Knowing that Sandy was Kate's sister-in-law had played an enormous role in his conscious decision to keep his distance from her. After all, when he first returned to Chicago things between him and Kate had been frosty at best and he'd gotten the distinct feeling from how Sandy reacted to him then that she knew more than she was letting on about the situation.

He was broken from his thoughts when Sandy suddenly vomited into the trashcan beside his desk. His FBI shadow, who had remained quietly tucked into the corner until this point, was on her feet in an instant, holding out a hand to steady the other woman. Sandy looked surprised but was grateful for the support.

"Are you alright?" Donnie questioned concernedly.

"Yeah..." Sandy replied a bit shakily as she withdrew a tissue from her pocket and wiped her mouth "Just a bit of sour stomach, been doing that all morning, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Donnie assured her.

Agent Ulrich guided Sandy to a chair. Sandy smiled sheepishly at the other woman "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Samantha," Agent Ulrich introduced "Samantha Ulrich."

"Director Parson assigned Agent Ulrich to protect me," Donnie explained.

Sandy nodded "Kate mention something about that," before Donnie could say anything she added "Yes, I spoke to her while I was digging up those files for you. She called me to let me know she'd picked up her phone from evidence." Sandy extended her hand to the female agent "Nice to meet you, Sandy Moretti."

Ulrich shook Sandy's hand "You want me to get you a glass of water or something?" she offered, still eyeing the othe woman with concern.

"Nah, I'll be alright," Sandy assured, standing up "It's probably just some stomach bug. Heaven only knows what kind of disease my girls will bring home from school next," she laughed as she left the office. Only a few minutes later she was hugging a toilet in the ladies room.

As he walked to his office after his second lecture of the day there was a noticeable spring in Daniel's step. When he caught sight of Kate waiting for him outside his office, a spontaneous smile appeared on his face. His pace quickened slightly.

Kate smiled as he got closer "Hi," she greeted.

"Hi," he returned the greeting as he unlocked his office door, entered and set his briefcase on his desk "I don't suppose you changed your mind and decided to spend the morning taking it easy?"

She stepped closer to him and gathered him into a hug "I'm fine," she assured him.

"Doesn't answer my question," Daniel countered stubbornly even as he returned the embrace.

Kate chuckled "Well I did pick up my phone," she told him.

"Uh-huh," Daniel knew her well enough that he didn't need her to finish the thought "And you're going to share what you found out?"

"I promised I would," she reminded him, delicately pecking him on the lips before disentangling herself from the embrace "But for now I'm hungry."

The CLMU main dining hall wasn't all that crowded considering the midday hour and the two were able to find an empty table easily. Kate's FBI escort, which at the moment consisted only of Agent Kruger, sat two tables away.

"So," Kate began, having finished the first bite of her ham and cheese sandwich "I was able to find out that they've had no luck with tracking down the person who posted the video and there were no fingerprints on the doll or the box it came in."

"Sounds like you had a productive morning," Daniel deadpanned.

"But they did find a fingerprint on the note," Kate revealed "It belongs to a corrections officer named Duncan Morris."

Daniel leaned forward "Have they brought him in for questioning?" he asked, jabbing at his salad almost violently with his fork.

"They have," she confirmed "Unfortunately, try as I might I couldn't get near him. Though I was able to figure out that he never had any direct contact with Rosenthal, so if he is the guy, he's not doing this alone."

Daniel nodded before changing the subject "I've been thinking," he began hesitantly "Maybe instead of Donnie having to find a new place to stay... you could... move in with me?"

Kate had to laugh at how sheepish he suddenly looked. She reached across the table and intertwined her fingers with his "That's an interesting suggestion," she observed with a soft smile "A little sudden though..."

Daniel nodded and looked away. He wanted to explain to her that it had felt so right to wake up with her beside him, that he wanted to start every morning like that from now on. But it did seem like things were happening too fast "Maybe we should talk about this another time," he shrugged dismissively.

"Chicken!" his younger self had appeared and taken the empty seat beside Kate. Young Daniel began making soft clucking noises.

"We can talk about it now," Kate told him. She suddenly felt as though she'd done something wrong, caused him to shy away from or reconsider their relationship. It had only just occurred to her that in the span of a few short days she had gone from almost marrying one man to falling into bed with another.

It was difficult for her to think of hers and Daniel's relationship as being so new. After all she'd thought of him as more than a friend for quite a while. But their romantic relationship was in fact a barely budding flower and as much as her head was spinning with delight she needed to slow things down and gently nurture that bud or risk it being trampled to nothingness.

"I don't want to scare you off," Daniel admitted. With this admission his hallucination ceased clucking, rose from the table and walked away.

Kate felt reassured by this. It seemed as though Daniel was just as frightened of this new territory as she was. She smiled at him as she leaned across the table "I won't run if you won't," she told him.

Daniel cupped her face in his hand and was in the process of bringing his lips to meet hers when something over Kate's shoulder gave him pause. He looked questioningly at Kate "I think Kruger just gave me the thumbs up..." he murmured.

Kate turned just in time to catch the other agent in the act "I have a hand gesture or two for him," she muttered. She walked around to Daniel's side of the table and sat beside him thereby removing the thirty or so inches of tabletop she'd previously been leaning across.

"I think the moment has been sufficiently killed," Daniel remarked.

Kate nodded "Wanna try and ditch him?" she suggested with a wicked glint in her eye.

"Tempting as that sounds," and Daniel was most assuredly tempted "There's a reason he's here. With our luck we'd run into trouble the second we managed to sneak away."

Kate laughed "You have a point," she conceded.

The pair finished their meal in a mostly companionable silence broken every now and then by idle conversation about this and that. Afterwards they returned to Daniel's office where thankfully Kruger was content to wait in the hall.

"How long until your next lecture?" Kate questioned idly as she stretched out on the sofa with her head in Daniel's lap.

"Almost an hour and a half," Daniel replied with a quick glance at his watch.

Kate sighed contentedly and closed her eyes. The next thing she knew Daniel was gently shaking her awake. Her eyes fluttered and she could see Max and Kruger standing across from the sofa.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"About an hour and fifteen minutes," Daniel informed her.

"Yikes," Kate observed as she sat up.

"Kruger's gonna take you home," Daniel told her as he stood up and extended a hand to her "And I want you to promise me you'll take it easy when you get there."

She smiled sheepishly as she wrapped her arms around him "Promise," she gave him a chaste kiss as way of parting.

He patted her arm "I'll see you in a few hours," he assured her.

Kate and Kruger departed and Daniel began preparing for his final lecture of the day.

It was after five and Daniel was walking across campus to meet Max so they could drive home. His thoughts drifted to Kate. He hoped she was taking it easy but with Kate he could never be sure. He smiled to himself knowing he would see her soon.

"Excuse me, Doctor Pierce?" Daniel turned to see a man he was unfamiliar with approaching.

"Yes, can I help you?" Daniel was eager to get this exchange over with.

"I'm gonna need you to come with me sir," the man stated.

Daniel was beginning to suspect this was one of his hallucinations but the discourse had not attracted the curious looks of passers by as it often did when he paused to talk to himself. "Absolutely not," Daniel replied to the man's request.

The next thing Daniel knew, there was a gun jammed in his ribs. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to insist," the man sneered.


	14. Chapter 13: Emergency

**Alternate**

**Chapter 13: Emergency**

**A/N: Well I felt like after that cliffhanger another chapter was in order. I hope you enjoy this and I don't want to sound greedy or desperate but I really do enjoy reviews and I would love to hear from all of you what you think. **

**Dedication: Wolfhound159, megspazzy and DaisyDay. **

In the pitch black Daniel tried to stay calm. Panic would lead to hyperventilation and hyperventilation would lead to him expending his limited air supply faster. Kate would find him. He had to believe that.

"Pinning your hopes on a long shot Daniel," Rosenthal's voice taunted from somewhere in the darkness. Even though he was a hallucination, Daniel couldn't help being infuriated at his former therapist. "She won't even realize you're gone until it's too late."

"Shut up," Daniel ground out as he fought to keep his breathing even.

"How long do you think you can stave off panic?" Rosenthal taunted "You know what kind of slow asphyxiating death awaits you. Your time is limited. No one's coming to save you."

"Shut up," Daniel repeated as the fear and anxiety raged inside him. His best efforts to tamp it down were failing. He was terrified of the slow death that awaited. Being buried alive was one of mankind's primal fears. And it had haunted Daniel since the day he'd attended his Great Grandmother's funeral when he was four.

"Mommy, what if she wakes up?" he had asked as the first few shovelfuls of dirt were thrown onto the coffin.

His father had laughed.

"She's not going to wake up honey," his mother had told him, giving his small hand a squeeze.

"But what if she does?" he had persisted, his young mind not able to truly understand the prominence of death.

"Then she'll have to claw her way out of the grave before she runs out of air," his father had remarked in jest as he formed one of his hands into a claw and reached for his son.

"James don't scare him," his mother had scolded as Daniel stepped closer to her, his eyes wide.

As Daniel felt his breathing become more rapid agains his will he felt like a frightened child all over again. He could feel his chest tightening as the fear of his impending death gripped him. Tears filled his eyes as Rosenthal laughed. He tried and tried to regain something akin to composure but it eluded him.

Suddenly a new voice entered the small space "Come on dude," his younger self encouraged "Pull it together, you got this."

"No he doesn't," Rosenthal countered "He's a paranoid schizophrenic in a coffin under at least six feet of dirt, in the middle of the woods. There's no hope of anyone finding him in time."

"The people who care about him will find him," younger Daniel stated with absolute certainty.

"You idealistic idiot," Rosenthal mocked.

"No," Daniel said firmly as something occurred to him "He's right." He reached into his coat pocket and with tremulous fingers retrieved the phone that Max had given him that morning.

Upon turning the device on the light it cast shed an eerie glow on his tomb. He caught sight of Rosenthal and his younger self, their disembodied heads poking through opposite sides of the coffin. Daniel shuddered and forced himself to focus on the phone.

During his lectures he'd had the phone turned off even though Max and Kate were the only ones with the number as far as he knew. Looking at the screen he noticed he had several missed calls from Max and one from Kate. He immediately hit the redial for Kate and wondered if the wireless plan Max had chosen had good enough reception to make a call from underground.

Upon being dropped off at Daniel's by Agent Kruger, who remained outside for the time being, Kate immediately fell asleep on the couch. A few hours later she was awoken by her phone. A quick glance at the clock left her feeling confused, it was almost seven thirty.

"What's going on Max?" she inquired upon answering the phone.

"Have you heard from doc?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

Kate sat bolt upright "No," she replied "What's wrong?"

"He was supposed to meet me at the library at around five fifteen," Max explained "Around five thirty I called his phone but I guess he must have forgotten to turn it back on after class. So I went to his office... He's not there. I've been asking all over campus. A couple of students remember seeing him leave his office but that's it..."

"Okay Max," Kate struggled to keep her voice calm for the young man's benefit as she slipped into her shoes and stood up "Call campus police, I'll be right there."

As she hung up with Max and headed for the door she decided to try Daniel's cell phone for herself. It went straight to voicemail and she sighed as she slid into the passenger's seat of Kruger's car. If his phone was off it couldn't be tracked. It seemed that Daniel had found a way around Max's attempt at keeping closer tabs on him.

Kruger had just turned onto the highway when Kate's phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and suddenly couldn't answer it fast enough "Daniel," she breathed "Are you alright?"

When he answered her his tone was trembling and full of fear "I... I... no I'm not..."

"Where are you?" Kate had never felt so frightened but forced herself to display so much composure before. He was so distraught that she didn't dare let a drop of fear in her tone.

"In a coffin..." he whispered, sheer terror in every syllable "Somewhere in the woods... about an hour and a half's walk from campus... Buried..." he choked on the word "Buried about six feet down..." Kate heard his ragged intake of breath and it was obvious that he was crying.

Quickly Kate relayed instructions to Kruger to have Fleckner start tracking Daniel's phone. "Daniel," it was becoming impossible for her to remain calm but somehow by some miracle, she managed "I need you to stay calm alright," she knew she was being a hypocrite but at least she had access to an unlimited oxygen supply "Just listen to my voice alright, take slow, deep breaths. We're coming for you okay."

"They'll never get here in time," Rosenthal taunted.

Daniel did his best to ignore his hallucination. He focussed on Kate's voice as he clutched the phone with both hands like the very literal life line it was.

"Talk to me Daniel," Kate couldn't keep the note of pleading from her voice as Kruger pulled over to let Max in the car. Kruger quickly filled the young man in as they turned in the direction of headquarters.

"I'm sorry," Daniel whispered.

"Don't apologize," Kate reprimanded "You've done nothing wrong."

But Daniel knew he had. His best efforts at keeping calm were failing miserably. He could feel his grip on reality dissolving entirely. He didn't want to die but it seemed like that was most assuredly what was going to happen. He didn't want to leave Kate.

His silence frightened Kate. She could hear his ragged breathing and the occasional whimper "Daniel," her tone was pleading now, not even the pretext of professionalism as they pulled into the FBI parking lot where Fleckner was waiting for them along with three other cars full of agents. "Stay with me Daniel," she told him as Fleckner, armed with a tablet on which Daniel's location was represented by a flashing red dot, got in beside Max "We're coming," she promised.

Kruger began driving according to Fleckner's instructions. Behind him the other three cars were joined by an ambulance and eventually a backhoe.

"I love you," Daniel whispered.

"I love you too," Kate was fighting back tears and losing "Just breathe Daniel. We'll be there soon. Just stay calm."

"I knew there was something going on between them," Fleckner remarked.

Max elbowed him hard in the ribs "Focus tech boy."

"I'll stay calm if you do," Daniel managed a halfhearted attempt at a joke.

Kate half chuckled "You'll stay calm in spite of whether I do or not," she informed him.

It was Daniel's turn to attempt a laugh "I'll try..."

"They'll never find you," it was Tasha Ogden who taunted him this time "You'll slowly run out of air and then the worms will come."

Tasha and Rosenthal laughed as Daniel became aware of hundreds of slimy, wriggling creatures crawling over him.

"It's not real, it's not real," he told himself.

Kate's heart broken into even smaller pieces. Being buried alive would wreak havoc on the psyche of someone without a mental illness. She couldn't even imagine what Daniel was going through. She wanted to wrap her hands around the throat of whoever had done this to him and squeeze the life out of them.

The FBI caravan had gone of road now. Kate's tears fell freely as she listened to Daniel trying to rationalize away whatever Hell he was experiencing "Focus on my voice," she begged "Just listen to me Daniel. I'll be there soon, I promise, we're going to get you out."

Daniel heard Kate's words and wanted desperately to believe them. Once again he tried to steady his breathing as he attempted to ignore the countless creepy crawlers.

"How do you know she's real?" Rosenthal postulated.

"I just do," Daniel nearly shouted at the specter.

"How can you be sure?" Rosenthal pressed "She's just a voice on the phone."

"I know she's real!" Daniel shouted.

"Who's real?" Kate questioned as the cars pulled up to a small clearing. The place where Daniel was buried was obvious. Agents piled out of cars and gathered around a patch of recently disturbed earth. Kate joined them. She took quick stock of all who were assembled. Pulling the phone away from her ear briefly, she shouted at Kruger "Where's the backhoe?"

"It wasn't able to make it this far in through the trees," he explained "We're gonna have to dig him out by hand." Agents Miller and Greyson were handing out shovels from the back ends of the other three cars. Kate reached for one but Kruger stopped her "You can't dig and talk at the same time," he reminded her, indicating the phone in her hand.

Kate nodded and put the phone back to her ear "We'll have you out soon Daniel," she told him.

"She's lying," Rosenthal sing-songed.

"You're stuck down here," Tasha said gleefully.

Even the hallucinated creepy crawlers had begun to whisper doubts and misgivings so that it was all but impossible to ignore them.

"K-Kate," Daniel called quietly over the phone.

"I'm here Daniel," she assured.

"If... you know... if I..." he stammered.

"You won't," she said firmly "You're going to be fine."

"But if I'm not..." he persisted "Promise... promise me... you'll be happy..."

"Excuse me?" Kate was taken aback by his words.

"Whatever happens..." Daniel whispered through ragged breaths and frightened tears "Be happy... find someone who sees you for... for the amazing... beautiful... strong... Incredible woman you are... Someone who isn't as messed up as me..."

Kate attempted to stifle a sob "You are not going to die!" she shouted as if her words alone could move the soil that trapped him "Stop talking like that!"

At that moment several shovels thudded against something. With Max and even Fleckner digging the number of shovels was nearly a dozen. It didn't take much longer before the coffin was fully uncovered. It was opened and several pairs of hands lifted Daniel out.

Kate pocketed her phone as she knelt beside him. By that time the sky had turned dark. The surrounding area was illuminated somewhat eerily by the headlights of the parked cars. Kate reached out and gently touched his face "I told you," she offered him a half smile.

Daniel stared back at her with wild eyes. His breathing was still quick and ragged and he still clutched the cell phone in both his hands. He said nothing but as paramedics rushed forward, fitting him with an oxygen mask and moving him onto a stretcher, he released the phone and reached for Kate's hand.

In the ambulance on the way to the hospital the paramedics administered IV diazepam in hopes that it would help Daniel relax or at least bring his heart rate down a little. As it began to take affect Daniel turned to Kate and in all sincerity he asked "You'd tell me if you weren't real?"

Kate almost laughed but something in the way he looked at her gave her pause. She leaned in close and stroked his hair "Daniel...?" she found words elusive at that moment. She brought her lips down to brush against his "Thank God you're okay," she finally murmured.

"You may be alive," Rosenthal interjected from his place standing beside Kate "But you and I both know you are not okay."


	15. Chapter 14: Fear

**Alternate**

**Chapter 14: Fear**

**A/N: Apparently I'm on a little bit of an updating roll. I don't want to beg for reviews because I have a core group of wonderful people who are consistently loyal and I love them. But I will say that I am very interested in hearing what all of you who have added this story to your favorites and alerts think. As well as all you anonymous readers out there. I hope you enjoy this chapter but even if you don't, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think I'm doing right or wrong. **

**Dedications: To my amazingly supportive group of reviewers Wolfhound159, megspazzy, DaisyDay and ChristyLoisGilmore17 who has reviewed the last three chapters within the last twenty four hours. Good luck on the last of your final projects. **

Levi Wagner sat in the FBI interview room. He had known it was only a matter of time before Morris gave him up. But it didn't matter, he'd done what he needed to do and he was positive he had something he could offer for a sweetheart of a deal.

The door opened and Agent Kruger walked in "My apologies for keeping you waiting Mr. Wagner," he began curtly "There was an urgent matter that needed to be attended to."

"Whatever," Wagner responded nonchalantly "Can we get this over with? I'm late for my date with the cute red headed barista from the coffee shop across from my apartment."

Kruger affixed the other man with a stern glare that seemed to do nothing to phase Wagner. "You aren't going anywhere Mr. Wagner."

"Yeah I'm gonna walk right out that door," Wagner replied confidently "Or doesn't the FBI give a damn about the lives of its consultants?"

Kruger allowed himself a little smile. The smile seemed to accomplish what the glare could not as Wagner suddenly seemed unnerved. "I assure you Mr. Wagner the FBI takes the lives of its civilian consultants very seriously. That is why you were kept waiting as long as you were. Myself and several other agents were engaged in an operation to locate and rescue one such consultant. Later at the hospital, said consultant was able to pick your photo out of a lineup. Stand up please."

Unhappily, Wagner did as he was told, wondering how Rosenthal's scheme had gone so wrong.

"Levi Wagner," Kruger began as he slapped the cuffs on the other man "You are under arrest for the kidnapping and attempted murder of Dr. Daniel Pierce."

The doctors had examined and assessed Daniel. They had determined that he no longer needed the oxygen mask but wanted to monitor him overnight just to be sure he was stable. Kate hadn't left his side the entire time with the exception of two minutes during which she stepped away to take a phone call from Kruger.

When she returned she took a seat at his bedside "Wagner and Morris are telling the FBI everything," she informed Daniel as she took his hand "Seems that Rosenthal's been pulling strings from behind bars."

Daniel nodded meekly before retuning his attention to the ceiling. He had been instructed to rest but every time he closed his eyes he was back in that coffin. The air seemed stale when he breathed. Over and over again he told himself he was safe.

"But are you really?" Rosenthal had appeared at the foot of the bed provoking an agonized groan from Daniel.

"You okay?" Kate asked, squeezing his hand.

Daniel nodded then clearing his throat he asked "Could you get me some water?"

"Sure," Kate patted his arm as she stood up.

"Good job Daniel," Rosenthal mocked "You've bought yourself all of two more minutes to talk to yourself uninterrupted."

"Just go away," Daniel groaned.

"I don't think so," Rosenthal countered "You're stuck with me. Stuck deep, deep down below."

"What are you talking about?" Daniel demanded.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Rosenthal replied cryptically.

"You're trying to trick me," Daniel accused.

"Am I?" the question was accompanied by a momentary change in the appearance of the ceiling and walls. For a terrifying moment they appeared as if they were made of crumbling earth.

"No, no," Daniel murmured, climbing out of bed and blinking his eyes rapidly.

The hallucination passed but when it did Rosenthal was standing in front of him laughing. "You'd've been better off if I killed you five years ago," he mocked "And Kate would be better off too."

"Shut up," Daniel almost growled.

"Sure she would have mourned you for a little while," Rosenthal continued "But she'd have eventually moved on, gotten remarried to Donnie, a real man who could take care of her. Instead she's stuck here watching an invalid descend into madness."

"Shut up!" Daniel screamed.

"Or is she even here at all?" Rosenthal began laughing again as the walls and ceiling took on the look of crumbling earth again.

"No, it's not real," Daniel told himself shakily "It can't be... It can't be real," but no matter where he turned all he saw was soil slowly collapsing in on him. All he heard was Rosenthal's mocking laughter.

"Daniel," Kate's voice called, sounding far away and full of concern.

He tried to concentrate on that voice as his chest grew tight with fear. But Rosenthal's laughter was far more prominent. He began to cry "I'm sorry," he whispered tearfully as the crumbling earth rushed towards him. It writhed almost as though it were alive and hungry for him "I'm sorry," he whispered again.

"Daniel!" he heard her voice more clearly now.

The soil had almost swallowed him whole and breathing had become nearly impossible. He gasped for air and then he felt something cold and wet hit him in the face. The writhing earth around him faded as did Rosenthal's taunting laughter and Kate appeared in front of him, tears in her eyes as she held the now empty water cup. "Kate," he whispered through sobs as not only the fear of being swallowed whole by living earth but the realization of what was happening sunk him.

Kate wrapped him in a tight hug, stroking his hair and rubbing comforting circles into the tense muscles between his shoulder blades "it's okay," she murmured through her own tears "It's okay..."

Daniel's psychiatrist Dr. Ashbury had come to the hospital and after speaking with both Daniel and Kate at length had reached the decision to admit Daniel to the psychiatric ward. However the transfer would have to wait until the morning. She did prescribe sedatives and anti-psychotics which he started on immediately.

Daniel had seemed to retreat into himself after Dr. Ashbury had left. Whether it was a side effect of the meds or something else, Kate wasn't sure. She did know one thing though: until he was moved to the psych ward, where visiting hours were far more strictly enforced, she would remain with him. She sat at his bedside, holding his hand in both of hers even though he hadn't said a word to her or spared her so much as a glance in the ninety minutes since Dr. Ashbury had departed.

Daniel knew that what he'd been afraid of had happened. He was slipping into the gaping maw of insanity and because of her devotion to him, Kate was being dragged along for the ride just as Rosenthal had said. It broke his heart. Even with her kind words and assurances of two nights before the reality of the situation was brutally devastating. If only they could've had a week or two of happiness before this happened...

As she lovingly held his hand tears pricked Daniel's eyes. He knew what he had to do. He had to push her away to save her. He didn't want to but there was no other choice. Either break her heart now or witness the slow death of her soul. It was an enormous effort for him just to bring himself to look at her. He took a deep breath and wrenched his hand from her grasp.

"Leave," he said simply, his voice coming out in a strangled whisper.

"No," she replied firmly, instantly seeing through what he was trying to do.

"I don't want you here," his voice was muffled as he turned away from her, burying his face in his pillow in an attempt to stop the unruly tears.

"Do you know you're a terrible liar?" She asked in a soft voice as she reached out and rubbed his shoulder "Daniel, wild horses couldn't drag me from this spot."

Daniel felt his entire body shake as he sobbed. Once again he lacked the strength to do what needed to be done. He took several deep breaths as he attempted to summon the courage to be angry at her. Try as he might the only emotions he could conjure up were love and sadness. He was weak and he hated himself for it. Hate, his self loathing, was there some way he could redirect that towards Kate? But no, all his anger towards himself led only to more frustrated tears and anguished sobs. He almost wished he'd died in that coffin.

Kate was leaning over him now, tenderly touching his cheek "Daniel, look at me," she whispered. Slowly he brought his gaze to meet hers. She smiled softly at him before kissing him tenderly "If you really truly want me to leave I will but no matter what you say, no matter what you do, you will never get me to stop loving you."

Fresh tears sprang to his eyes as he looked away again "You're too good for me Kate Moretti."

"That's not true," Kate replied, taking his hand again as she sat back down "And you know it. You deserve to be loved unconditionally as much as anyone"

Another hour or so of silence followed during which the sedatives caused Daniel to drift into a light and uneasy sleep. He awoke from his fitful respite when he heard Kate yawn involuntarily.

"You should get some sleep," his voice this time was not choked back with the tears of self loathing and fear but laden with concern for her.

She offered his hand a reassuring squeeze "I'm fine Daniel," she told him "Go back to sleep."

"How did you-"

"Your fingers relaxed a little," she smiled softly.

Daniel hadn't even been aware until this moment that as she had been holding his hand, he had been clinging to hers. He released his grasp immediately "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked a bit fearfully.

"Nah," Kate promised "Not at all. Now try to sleep.

"I'd feel better if I knew you were getting some rest too," he told her.

"I'll rest later," she replied stubbornly.

"You are without a doubt the most bullheaded woman I've ever been involved with," Daniel sighed.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Kate chuckled.

"As it was intended," Daniel quipped.

"Now cram the sweet talk and get some rest," she out and out laughed.

Daniel allowed himself to drift off again. Though he was far from at ease and far from assured that Kate would survive this experience unscathed. His mind was still filled with fears and doubts of all kinds none the least of which was that Rosenthal was not done with him. The hallucination version or the real one. It was this fear that caused him to awaken in a cold sweat less than two hours later whimpering. He trembled as Kate soothed him, sitting beside him on the bed and holding him in her arms.

When she suggested calling the nurse he almost silenced his objections. If it hadn't been for the sudden stiffening of his body she would have pressed the call button without a second thought. Instead she dropped the device, letting it hang off the bed rail.

"You don't want them to give you more drugs," she said intuitively.

Daniel nodded "Not yet at least," he admitted. "Can you just sit with me for a little while?" he asked sheepishly.

"I can do that," she offered him a gentle, understanding smile.

They sat side by side on the bed, holding hands. Sometimes chatting about this and that but mostly in comfortable silence as they watched the sun rise over the city outside the room's large window. Before either of them knew it Dr. Ashbury had returned to let Daniel know that a bed had opened up in the psychiatric ward.

Reluctantly Kate bid Daniel farewell "I'll be back to see you this afternoon," she promised.

"Promise me you'll get some rest between now and then?" Daniel requested as he hugged her.

"Promise," she kissed him on the lips.

Kate and Daniel parted ways in the hall. Daniel walked with Dr. Ashbury and an orderly in the direction of the psych ward while Kate, realizing she had arrived at the hospital with Daniel in the ambulance pulled out her cell phone to see if she could find someone to give her a lift.


	16. Chapter 15: Unseen

**Alternate**

**Chapter 15: Unseen **

**A/N: Been a while but I finally got around to finishing this one. If I ever manage to get my act together you'll see a lot more Perception stories from me. I have ideas. Lots of ideas. **

**Dedicated to Wolfhound159 for just being all around awesome.**

Kate first called Max. After filling him in on Daniel's situation she asked if he could give her a lift. Unfortunately he was already running behind schedule and the hospital was too far out of his way. Next Kate called Sandy. It was almost eight o'clock but Kate knew that Sandy was usually available since the girls often got a ride to school from one of their friends' mothers.

Sandy answered the phone sounding a little out of sorts. After Kate explained the situation Sandy agreed to come get her. Kate stood outside the hospital, enjoying the beautiful Spring weather while she waited. She found herself yawning. She hadn't realized how tired she truly was until that moment. When Sandy pulled up Kate practically collapsed in the passenger's seat.

"Long night?" Sandy questioned with a note of cynicism in her voice.

That one casual; off-hand remark broke Kate's defenses and she began to cry. She wept for all the mental anguish Daniel had been forced to endure and was still suffering. She wanted to murder Rosenthal and his cronies in the most horrific and painful ways imaginable but knew it would do nothing to change what they'd done. She began pouring her heart out to Sandy. She told her sister-in-law of having come back into Daniel's hospital room to find him scared out of his wits and how the only thing she could think to do was throw the water she was holding in his face.

Sandy offered a sympathetic ear and once they'd arrived at Daniel's house, she'd come inside with Kate and fixed her a cup of tea. Then she'd sat on the couch, holding the other woman while she continued to cry. After several minutes Kate's sobs diminished. Sandy continued to rub Kate's back until even the last sniffles had subsided.

Kate pulled away, somewhat embarrassed "Sorry," she murmured, taking a gulp of her hot tea and reveling in the warm sensation as it traveled from her throat to her stomach.

"Don't worry about it," Sandy assured her "Sounds like you needed a good cry."

Kate nodded "I did," she agreed "I hope I haven't made you late for work."

"I took the morning off," Sandy informed her "I have a doctor's appointment at ten."

"Everything okay?" Kate asked, concerned.

"Yeah," Sandy answered evasively, not wanting to bother Kate with her suppositions. She hadn't even told Joey yet what she suspected.

"Spill it," Kate demanded.

"No," Sandy replied "It's probably nothing anyway."

"What's probably nothing?" Kate persisted.

"Kate," Sandy deflected "You've been up all night, you should really rest."

Kate sighed heavily "You're lucky I'm tired," she grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch "But I'm not gonna forget about this."

Sandy laughed "I know you won't," she stood from the couch "And give Daniel my best when you see him."

"Thanks," Kate reluctantly got off the couch so she could lock the door behind Sandy after she left. When Kate returned to the couch she quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Donnie Ryan stared across the table at the reprehensible piece of scum he had come to see. Josiah Rosenthal looked as cool and collected as ever which only pissed Donnie off all the more. This smug son-of-a-bitch had been playing puppet master for too long. After learning of what Daniel had gone through, Donnie was Hell bent on putting an end to Rosenthal's game playing.

"I came to let you know that I'm pursuing further charges against you for witness tampering and facilitation of attempted murder;" Donnie stated simply.

"So Daniel's still alive," Rosenthal noted "Good for him. Though he probably won't be in any shape to testify anytime soon," Rosenthal's face broke into a wicked grin.

Donnie fought against the urge to leap across the table and strangle the prick. "He may not be testifying anytime soon but your two department of corrections cronies Wagner and Morris will be."

Rosenthal didn't seem at all surprised by this "I suppose that trial will be taking place before my retrial," he surmised.

"Get comfortable," Donnie advised "You aren't going anywhere." He got up from the table and turned to leave.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Rosenthal called after him "Wagner and Morris may not have been my only cronies." Donnie didn't dare turn back to face Rosenthal and give the killer the satisfaction of seeing the worried expression that had just crossed his face. That is until Rosenthal added "I was sorry to hear that you and Agent Moretti broke it off."

Donnie was absolutely dumbstruck. He turned to stare at Rosenthal but said nothing. There were other explanations for how Rosenthal could have learned this. Donnie himself could have said something to Wagner and Morris on Saturday night when they'd dragged him from his car in a drunken stupor.

An involuntary shiver went down Donnie's spine at the memory of that portion of the interrogation of the two corrections officers. Apparently Rosenthal had initially wanted to make Donnie "disappear". His two lackies however had thankfully not been too keen on that idea and upon finding Donnie passed out behind the wheel of his car had improvised the plan to discredit him rather than murder him. It was ironic that Donnie's reckless and idiotic behavior had probably saved his life.

Seeing that he had Donnie's attention, Rosenthal decided to toy with him a little more "How does it feel to know that your ex-fiancé is screwing your star witness? Wouldn't it have been better for all of us if Daniel had just slowly run out of air and died? All the years he was my patient I'd never have thought he'd ever concede to carrying a cell phone with him."

Those words turned Donnie's stomach. Sure it still hurt that Kate loved and probably always had loved Daniel but even in his darkest moments Donnie wouldn't dream of doing more than roughing Daniel up a bit. Rosenthal's implication that Donnie somehow might be happy if Daniel had died was horrific. Then there was the part about the cell phone. Neither Wagner nor Morris had ever been told that detail. Was this just a lucky guess on Rosenthal's part or...?

"You look a little green Mr. Ryan," Rosenthal observed "Maybe you should sit down."

Donnie shook his head quickly before departing. As he walked through the halls of the prison Samantha Ulrich fell into step beside him. She had been observing the interview and found herself profoundly unsettled by it.

"Well that was creepy," she observed as the pair emerged into the bright mid-morning sun.

"No kidding," Donnie replied as he got into the driver's seat. He had agreed to Sam's continued presence at Parsons's request after Wagner and Morris had explained about Rosenthal's desire to get Donnie out of the picture. Donnie had one condition however: he would do the driving.

Sandy sat on the edge of the exam table waiting for her gynecologist to finish some business on the phone. The blood test had already confirmed that she was pregnant. All that remained was the pelvic exam to determine how far along she was.

Sandy pulled the hospital gown close around herself as she fretted. She and Joey had been talking about having another baby. But those discussions often ended badly with talk of their hectic work schedules and whether they could even afford another child. The rent on their already crowded apartment had recently been raised and June had begged her parents to enroll her in a none-to-cheap day camp over the upcoming Summer.

Sandy wanted to be overjoyed about the news that she was pregnant but it felt as though it couldn't have come at a worse time. She found herself worrying about how Joey would react. He would be thrilled initially of course but the joy would surely wear off and reality would hit hard. And the girls, would they be okay with the idea of a new baby?

The gynecologist, a pleasant round faced woman by the name of Dr. Jane Maryweather, entered. "Alright Sandy," she smiled gently as she put on a pair of gloves "Let's get a look at that uterus."

Sandy lay back and put her feet in the stirrups. All the while her worries persisted. She would call Joey once she left the doctor's office and give him the news.

Daniel sat in a chair beside the window of his hospital room in the psychiatric wing of the hospital. He had changed from the hospital gown with its pale green diamond pattern he had worn the night before into a pair of sky blue scrub pajamas. They were far more comfortable and far less breezy in back. Across from him Dr. Ashbury sat in an identical chair, a notepad open on her knee and a pen poised over it.

"We only spoke briefly last night and this morning," she began "I thought a one on one session might be beneficial rather than just dumping you into group therapy with everyone else right off the bat."

Daniel nodded but otherwise made no effort at communication. His gaze drifted out the window. On a nearby tree branch he spotted a fledgling tufted titmouse. The tiny bird flapped its wings but remained on the branch. Daniel found himself projecting emotions onto the little bird. He found himself sympathizing with the creature. Like him, the bird was afraid. The metaphor did not hold forever as the next time the bird spread its wings it flew away.

"Show off..." Daniel muttered under his breath.

"Hmm...?" Dr. Ashbury inquired.

"Nothing," Daniel replied dismissively.

"Well at least I got you to say something," Ashbury noted. "Now why is it that in the last few hours you seem to have retreated into yourself?"

Daniel stared straight ahead without saying a word.

"We've been over this before Daniel," Ashbury stated gently "I'm not Rosenthal. I understand that you have trust issues stemming from your previous experience but this is a safe place."

Daniel nodded again "I understand that," he said as way of placating the doctor's need for communication. His monotone recitation of the words spoke quite clearly. He didn't want to talk about his experience the previous evening, his true issues (which predates but had definitely been made worse by Rosenthal) or other feelings. He was going to keep as closed off as possible.

Dr. Ashbury tried very hard not to sigh by covering it with a yawn which wasn't much better. She tried a different tactic "Are the medications working well for you? Do we need to play with the dosage a little?"

Daniel shook his head "No," he replied "I haven't had any hallucinations since last night and I can still manage to focus for the most part. I think we've struck a good balance for now."

"And how long after you're released from the hospital do you think you'll continue to take your meds?" Ashbury asked pointedly.

Daniel was taken aback for a moment before the answer came to him. He closed his eyes and disdainfully uttered a single word "Lewicki..."

Ashbury couldn't help laughing at Daniel's reaction "He wouldn't have mentioned it if he didn't care about your wellbeing," she pointed out.

Daniel sighed "I'll get back at him somehow," he murmured.

Ashbury chuckled as she scratched something on her notepad. "So how long?" she questioned again.

Daniel sighed, his eyes drifting closed. There was a long pause before he spoke "Two or three months usually before I stop," he admitted. "I'll suddenly realize I can't focus the way I used to or become paranoid about developing irreversible side effects." He hadn't been planning on being this open with Ashbury but his defenses weren't what they usually were. He'd focussed all his attention on guarding his thoughts and feelings about having been buried alive that the refocusing of the discussion to the topic of medication had allowed Ashbury to find a way around the metaphorical walls he had constructed.

Ashbury nodded silently "And when you do go off your meds are you happier than when you're on them?"

Daniel shook his head "That's complicated," he replied. Dr. Ashbury talked with him for another half hour. At the end of their session Daniel felt emotionally drained. It was another hour before Kate came to visit. Daniel spent the better part of that hour staring out the window watching birds flit from branch to branch and the occasional patient meandering through the courtyard below.

"Hey you," Kate smiled softly in his direction as she entered the room.

He turned from the window to face her. He cracked a genuine smile "Hi," he replied.

Kate took the seat across from him that Dr. Ashbury had occupied earlier "How're you feeling?" she asked.

"Much better now that you're here," he told her.

Kate laughed and to Daniel it sounded heavenly "That was corny," she said honestly.

"I could be cornier," Daniel countered.

"Please don't try," Kate pleaded.

"You're just making me want to even more," he teased.

She laughed again "Seriously though Daniel."

"Seriously, I do feel better seeing you again," he told her as he reached out and took one of her hands in his.

"I feel better seeing you too," she laced her fingers through his and squeezed.

"Did you get some rest?" Daniel inquired "Or are you just running on caffeine?"

"Both," Kate answered "If it weren't for caffeine I'd still be asleep on the couch."

"The couch...?" Daniel almost asked why she hadn't slept in the bed but he was all too quickly reminded of the awkwardness that had arisen when he'd asked her to move in with him.

Kate ignored Daniel's half asked question "Why don't we go for a walk?" she suggested.

Daniel nodded and still holding her hand, rose to his feet.

The hospital courtyard was nothing awe inspiring by any means. A few well kept trees and shrubs, a few early flowers dotted swaths of green grass and a row of wooden benches offering a view primarily dominated by dingy brick walls. Daniel and Kate strolled hand in hand along a meandering path of their own choosing. Eventually the pair paused to sit together on one of the benches.

Kate leaned in to Daniel's side as he put his arm around her. She snaked an arm around Daniel's back and held tight. Her eyes began to drift closed. She just wanted to forget about the events of last night, the crippling fear that she was going to lose him forever. But those memories refused to retreat to the back of her mind.

She felt Daniel lean his cheek against the top of her head and she knew he was probably trying even harder than she was to forget. She looked up at him and was about to say something when her cell phone rang. She groaned but did not move at first "Someone has shit timing," she muttered.

"You should probably get that," Daniel reluctantly pulled away from Kate.

Kate sighed and pulled her phone from her pocket. The second she answered she met with a verbal onslaught.

"...Donnie...? Yeah, I'm fine... I'm with him right now he's fine. Why do you...? WHAT?!" Kate was on her feet in an instant, holding her phone in one hand as she continued exchanging sentence fragments with Donnie, her other hand clamped down protectively on Daniel's shoulder as her eyes scanned the immediate area.

Daniel strained to hear the other side of Kate's conversation and eventually was able to catch a few words from Donnie. Unfortunately what he heard did nothing to ease his worries.

"Danger... Threat... Rosenthal."


End file.
